Scientists detect Einstein gravitational waves for a third time

An artist's impression of gravitational waves generated by binary neutron stars.
An artist's impression of gravitational waves generated by binary neutron stars. IMAGE: CALTECH-JPL

MIAMI, Florida (REUTERS) - Scientists have for a third time detected ripples in space from black holes that crashed together billions of light years from Earth, a discovery that confirms a new technique for observing cataclysmic events in the universe, research published on Thursday (June 1) shows.


The latest detection occurred on Jan 4, 2017. Twin lasers in Louisiana and Washington picked up the faint vibrations of two black holes that were 20 and 30 times more massive than the sun, respectively, before they spiralled toward each other and merged into a larger black hole.


"We're really moving from novelty to a new observational science," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology astrophysicist David Shoemaker.

A team of more than 1,000 scientists published their findings in this week's issue of Physical Review Letters.

Like the previous two detections, the gravitational waves discovered in January slightly jiggled the L-shaped, 4km-long laser beams that comprise the heart of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or Ligo.

By matching the shape of the waves with computer models, scientists confirmed the collision took place about three billion light years from Earth, twice as far as previous detections.



A second gravitational wave observatory in Italy is scheduled to begin operations this summer and will enhance Ligo's ongoing studies. Scientists eventually expect to be able to find black holes merging about once a day.
