Is dark energy just an illusion, as is often suggested? To resolve the dilemma, interpreting the basic principles of general relativity in a complex Universe may need a rethink.
Gravity of a white dwarf star warps space and bends the light of a distant star behind it.
NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI
These ripples in the very fabric of the universe were hypothesized by Einstein a century ago. Now scientists have detected them for the third time in a year and a half – ushering in a new era in astrophysics.
The discovery of the year was the first detection of gravitational waves.
LIGO/T. Pyle
The OzGRav Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery will enable Australian researchers to be at the forefront of gravitational wave astronomy.
There are two broad ways to measure the expansion of the universe. One is based on the cosmic microwave background, shown here, along with our own galaxy viewed in microwave wavelengths.
ESA, HFI & LFI consortia (2010)
The universe is expanding faster than expected, but we don't know what's driving it. Here are a few of the possible explanations, from dark energy to a modification of general relativity.
An artist’s impression of the galaxies found in the ‘Zone of Avoidance’ behind our Milky Way.
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
There's a good reason you should care about the discovery of gravitational waves, even if you don't understand the science.
A team effort: Dr David Reitze, of the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech, shows the merging of two black holes that led to the detection of gravitational waves.
REUTERS/Gary Cameron
The discovery of gravitational waves involved a team of more than 1,000 scientists from across the globe, including Australia. So how does such an international collaboration work?
It's taken centuries for our understanding of gravity to evolve to where it is today, culminating in the discovery of gravitational waves, as predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago.
Oh hey, I heard ripples in space and time, generated as two black holes merged. Call me back.
SXS
Four decades later, I find myself surveying 13 billion years of cosmic history and mapping events that really did happen a long time ago in galaxies far, far away.
Albert Einstein wrestled with unifying gravity with electromagnetism and quantum mechanics until his dying days.
Oren Jack Turner/Wikimedia Commons
Many people think relativity puts a hard speed limit on the universe, but it actually opens up the possibility of faster-than-light travel - if we can overcome some significant practical hurdles.
General relativity isn’t only a powerfully descriptive theory, but there’s a beauty in its elegance.
Director, WA Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, and the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre, University of Western Australia
