General theory of relativity – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

Black holes and other massive objects create ripples in spacetime when they merge. Victor de Schwanburg/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

June 30, 2023

A subtle symphony of ripples in spacetime – astronomers use dead stars to measure gravitational waves produced by ancient black holes

Chris Impey, University of Arizona

Astronomers have for the first time detected the background hum of gravitational waves likely caused by merging black holes.

Ontario Picture Bureau/Wikimedia Commons

January 5, 2022

A century ago, Australia was ground zero for eclipse-watchers – and helped prove Einstein right

Brian Finlayson, The University of Melbourne and Ray Sumner, California State University, Dominguez Hills

A total eclipse that travelled the full width of Australia in 1922 offered astronomers the chance to confirm Einstein’s theory of general relativity - and for the community to enjoy a rare spectacle.

Woodcut from Camille Flammarion’s 1888 book *L'Atmosphère : météorologie populaire*. The caption reads: ‘A missionary of the Middle Ages tells that he had found the point where the sky and the Earth touch’ and continues, ‘What is there, then, in this blue sky, which certainly exists, and which veils the stars during the day?’ Wikipedia

May 25, 2020

Einstein’s two mistakes

François Vannucci, Université Paris Cité

Albert Einstein may have been the ultimate example of a visionary genius, but that did not stop him from twice losing his way due to beliefs that were perhaps not so scientific.

A white dward (centre) and its companion pulsar make for an excellent natural gravitational laboratory. Mark Myers/OzGrav

January 30, 2020

Warp factor: we’ve observed a spinning star that drags the very fabric of space and time

Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology and Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy

One of Einstein’s weirder predictions is that massive, spinning objects exert a drag on space-time itself. Now an orbiting pair of unusual stars has revealed this effect in action.

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