Have scientists just found the missing gravity waves that we’ve been searching for for more than a century since Einstein’s theory of general relativity came to be?
Gravity waves are ripples that can occur in space time that behave much like water ripples when something splashes into the water’s surface tension. The waves are thought to be initiated by collisions of massive objects like black holes, or explosions of stars.
The ripples of gravity can impact nearby objects, such as solar systems, planets, space rocks, and more. Gravity waves, which put a change in the distance between two objects in space time, have never before been observed by humans, and have only been theorized.
The Laster Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, also known as LIGO for short, has had its eyes pointed deep into outer space for over a decade, looking for evidence of such a thing, but recent upgrades to another, more recent, LIGO detector may have had more luck in obtaining some kind of a signal.
As you can imagine, such a world-changing discovery is being kept under the radar until it can be better explained by experts in the field. LIGO is reportedly working behind the scenes on a journal that better explains what they’ve reportedly found, although there are no confirmations as of right now.
Lawrence M. Krauss, a Cosmologist at Arizona State University, took to Twitter to express that “Gravitational waves may have been discovered!” and that “independent sources” have confirmed the rumor.
My earlier rumor about LIGO has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting.
— Lawrence M. Krauss (@LKrauss1) January 11, 2016
Still, without any official word from LIGO, the group that has all the information at this point in time, it’s possible this could all be hype.
"We will share results when ready but have nothing yet — it takes months to analyze the data, interpret results and review them," said Gabriela Gonzalez, a physicist and spokesperson for LIGO.
Obviously, just because something cool was seen in outer space doesn’t mean we can jump to conclusions just yet. There may be solid evidence that gravity waves exist, but until it can be proven wholeheartedly, LIGO understandably doesn’t want to make any claims that may damage their reputation only to find that it was something else further down the line.
Source: The Guardian
