Weiss, Thorne, and Barish made the discovery as part of the LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration back in February 2016.

That is surprisingly fast for a Nobel prize. It shows how significant they thought the accomplishment was.

 

He's had the theory for decades, the technology finally advanced so the experiment could be implemented.

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gravitational-waves-neutron-star-collision-ligo/

The European Space Agency's Fermi Space Telescope detected gamma rays from the merger within two seconds of the gravity waves, indicating the latter travel at the speed of light.

 

“We’ve got somewhere between a quarter and a third of all the world’s astronomers working with us.”

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...have-let-us-see-huge-neutron-stars-colliding/

 

Another article:
https://www.space.com/38469-gravita...s-discovery-ligo.html?utm_source=notification

 

This last event is proving to be a watershed historical moment:

It marks the first gravitational waves from something other than a black hole binary, the first proof that neutron star mergers can cause gamma ray bursts, the first sighting of heavy elements being formed and the first measurement of the universe’s expansion using gravitational waves.

 

From NASA:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-missions-catch-first-light-from-a-gravitational-wave-event/

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12740

 

This probably fits better in the weird thread... but what the heck:

 

In addition to creating gravitational waves, the colliding neutron stars may have formed a small black hole.
https://www.livescience.com/60695-w...iscovery-matters.html?utm_source=notification

 

 

Astronomers have found 5 pairs of black holes that are about to merge and may help them understand how the merging of black holes produces powerful gravitational waves.

https://www.space.com/38497-five-me...s-merging-videos.html?utm_source=notification

 

Astronomers have found 5 pairs of black holes that are about to merge and may help them understand how the merging of black holes produces powerful gravitational waves.

https://www.space.com/38497-five-me...s-merging-videos.html?utm_source=notification

Now all we have to do is wait a few hundred million years... see what happens

 

We build the GW telescope and what do we see, couples merging like a roman orgy on a Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed.

 

We build the GW telescope and what do we see, couples merging like a roman orgy on a Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed.

You've just invented a new genre: "Astro-porn" ...

 

Interesting bit:

LIGO researchers say the collision produced somewhere around 10 times the mass of Earth in gold. Similar events may be responsible for most or even all of the heavy elements in the universe.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...veries-from-the-hunt-for-gravitational-waves/

 

It seems that the game's still on, @joeyd999 ... second thoughts are emerging about the "discovery of the century":

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...-over-ligos-discovery-of-gravitational-waves/

“We believe that LIGO has failed to make a convincing case for the detection of any gravitational wave event,” says Andrew Jackson, the group’s spokesperson. According to them, the breakthrough was nothing of the sort: it was all an illusion.

 

It would be nice to be able to read article.

 

June of 2017....

http://www.nbi.ku.dk/gravitational-waves/gravitational-waves.html

And August 2017.....

http://www.nbi.ku.dk/gravitational-waves/gravitational-waves-comment2.html

Although I'm not sure what to think of it. Not sure I understand the point.

 

June of 2017....

http://www.nbi.ku.dk/gravitational-waves/gravitational-waves.html

And August 2017.....

http://www.nbi.ku.dk/gravitational-waves/gravitational-waves-comment2.html

Although I'm not sure what to think of it. Not sure I understand the point.

Their point, as I understand it, is that they used templates for data comparison. But I too fail to understand what is wrong with that.

 

I think it has something to do with comparing the background noise at each location and time......but I couldn't follow it.