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Einstein's theory borne out, gravitational waves exist

A screen displays a diagram showing the ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves that scientists have observed for the first time by the LIGO detector, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, February 11, 2016. ©AFP

In what has been touted as the herald of a new era in astronomy and physics, scientists have been able to detect gravitational waves, confirming Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity that was presented a century ago. 

Scientists made the announcement at a press conference in Washington on Thursday, when they played out what they called a gravitational wave signal, which had been converted into audio waves.

Einstein’s 1915 theory of relativity says the existence of matter causes a distortion of space and time, or gravitational ripples in the curvature of space-time continuum.

When massive objects like black holes collide, they send gravitational waves across the universe, manipulating the continuum.

This file photo taken on March 13, 2012 shows an artist's concept of a quasar, or feeding black hole. ©AFP

The energy released by the collision of two black holes some 1.3 billion light years ago warped the space-time continuum, enabling the scientists to record the distortion using giant twin laser detectors on September 14 last year and convert it to sound.

"That's the chirp we've been looking for," said Louisiana State University physicist, Gabriela Gonzalez, describing the audio version of the disturbance in the continuum.

"Until this moment, we had our eyes on the sky and we couldn't hear the music," said Columbia University astrophysicist, Szabolcs Marka, a member of the discovery team, who added, "The skies will never be the same."

The discovery came about thanks to the work of an international team of astrophysicists as well as the application of the twin instruments known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), to detect the wave. LIGO is located in the US states of Louisiana and Washington.

“It's really comparable only to Galileo taking up the telescope and looking at the planets," said Pennsylvania State physics theorist, Abhay Ashtekar, who was not part of the discovery team. "Our understanding of the heavens changed dramatically," he added.


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