Proving Einstein

On Oct 16, LIGO announced its observatories were able to detect gravitational waves created by the collision of two neutron stars. The collision occurred on Aug. 17.

The collision, known as a kilonova and similar to a supernova, simultaneously generated electromagnetic waves (light and gamma rays) and a gravitational wave, both travelling at the speed of light. LIGO detected the gravitational wave, while other observatories detected the electromagnetic wave. The collision also produced heavy metals, such as gold, silver, lead and uranium.

Kevin Miller, director of business development at High Precision Devices, said that while the data hasn’t been fully analyzed, “having the benefit of correlated essentially simultaneous electromagnetic waves and gravitational waves observational data should be revealing.”

The collision was further proof of Einstein’s prediction of ripples in space-time.