Journey of a Gravitational Wave | National Science Foundation

Journey of a Gravitational Wave | National Science Foundation

The U.S. Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. LIGO scientist David Reitze takes us on a 1.3 billion year journey that begins with the violent merger of two black holes in the distant universe. The event produced gravitational waves, tiny ripples in the fabric of space and time, which LIGO detected as they passed Earth on September 14, 2015.

This simulation shows how the merger would appear to our eyes if we could somehow travel in a spaceship for a closer look. It was created by solving equations from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity using the LIGO data. The two merging black holes are each roughly 30 times the mass of the sun, with one slightly larger than the other. The event took place 1.3 billion years ago. This simulation was created by the multi-university Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project.

Credit: Credit: LIGO/SXS/R. Hurt and T. Pyle/National Science Foundation 

Duration: 2 minutes, 55 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 13, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Astrophysics #Physics #Earth #Stars #Galaxies #BlackHoles #Collision #Merger #GravitationalWaves #AlbertEinstein #Cosmos #Universe #LIGO #Detector #SXSProject #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Visualization #Simulation #HD #Video