Gravitational Wave Astronomy - Listening to the Universe
Gravitational wave astronomy is a relatively new branch in the field of astrophysics that studies the universe using gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are basically ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by the acceleration of massive objects, such as black holes and neutron stars. It was originally theorized by Einstein in his general theory of relativity back in the year 1915. Even though it was theorized long ago, the first detection of gravitational waves was made in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration. Do we normal human beings produce gravitational waves when we accelerate? Yes, we do, but the amount of waves produce is so small it is practically impossible to detect them with the current technology. For now, we can only detect them from incredibly massive and dense objects like black holes or neutron stars. In addition to studying black holes and neutron stars, gravitational wave astronomy can also be used to study ...