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Articles on Gravitational waves

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When two black holes collide, the resulting gravitational ripples can be felt across the cosmos. Henze, NASA

Gravitational waves discovered: the universe has spoken

The detection of gravitational waves is the final confirmation of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and opens up a new window into the cosmos.
Computer simulation of two merging black holes producing gravitational waves. Werner Benger.

Explainer: what are gravitational waves?

If you understand how a trampoline works, you’ll be able to understand what gravitational waves are.
Two black holes collide. University of Glasgow

Gravitational waves found: the inside story

It is the physics discovery of the century – even bigger than the Higgs Boson. Here’s how it happened and what it means, by a key member of one of the lead teams
A highlight of 2015 was the number of weird and wonderful exoplanets that were found. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Space in 2015 was out of this world

From a flyby of Pluto to the search for extrasolar planets and gravitational waves, 2015 was a monumental year for space news.
Japanese physicist Takaaki Kajita after he won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Arthur B McDonald of Canada. EPA Franck Robichon

The man behind the Nobel Prize in Physics on neutrinos and their mass

On the journey to discovery with the ‘gifted mentor’ Takaaki Kajita, one of this year’s Nobel Prize winners, from some one who studied with him.
A visualisation of gravitational waves emitted by two orbiting supermassive black holes. CSIRO

Where are the missing gravitational waves?

A new study has failed to find evidence of gravitational waves, but that doesn’t mean Einstein was wrong about their existence.
New data reveals no evidence of gravitational waves in the early universe, as observed by the BICEP2 radio telescope (pictured) near the South Pole. teffen Richter, Harvard University

Gravitational wave discovery still clouded by galactic dust

One of this century’s greatest potential discoveries concerning the origins of the universe has now fallen to galactic dust. That’s according to a new joint-analysis of all the existing data – including…
Planck telescope and the Cosmic microwave background. ESA and Planck

BICEP2 ‘gravity wave’ finding clouded by interstellar dust

In March, scientists working on the BICEP2 experiment, a microwave telescope based at the South Pole, announced that they had seen ‘gravity waves’ from the early universe, created just after the Big Bang…
There’s a lot of dust between us and the edge of the universe. H Raab/Flickr

Has dust clouded the discovery of gravitational waves?

It’s almost three months since a team of scientists announced it had detected polarised light from the afterglow of the Big Bang. But questions are still being asked about whether cosmic dust may have…
Anthony Gormley should have put the Quantum Cloud in a box. lwr

The next big deal: detecting gravitational waves at your desk

Physics is on the front pages of newspapers around the world. This time it is because of the announcement made by a team of scientists who seem to have found indirect evidence for the existence of “primordial…
Graduate student Justus Brevik testing the BICEP2 used to find evidence of cosmic inflation nearly 14 billion years ago. EPA/Steffen Richter/Harvard University

First hints of gravitational waves in the Big Bang’s afterglow

Scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in the US have announced overnight what they believe is the indirect detection of gravitational waves in the afterglow of the Big Bang. The…

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