The detection of gravitational waves is becoming more common, but this is the first time experts have witnessed the phenomenon after two neutron stars – collapsed cores of large stars – collided.
Despite only being announced today, the discovery was actually made on August 17 and the collision happened an astonishing 130 million years ago yet the waves have only recently reached Earth.
Researchers state the resulting explosion from the colliding stars created a “kilonova” – an explosion when two neutron stars collide.
The resulting explosion was so powerful that it sent ripples through the fabric of spacetime.
The discovery was made using more than 70 laboratories around the globe that are designed to detect the minutest of ripples in the universe.
Nasa says the discovery heralds a new age of astrophysics.
Julie McEnery, an astrophysicist at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told the Washington Post: “It’s transformational.
“The era of gravitational wave astrophysics had dawned, but now it’s come of age. … We’re able to combine dramatically different ways of viewing the universe, and I think our level of understanding is going to leap forward as a result.”
Dr Francesco Pannarale, from Cardiff University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, who led one of the analyses on this new discovery, said: “This discovery was everything I always hoped for, packed into a single event. All this rich information came pouring in and we learnt an awful lot.
“My favourite thing is that we confirmed that colliding neutron stars power short gamma-ray bursts, solving one of the greatest mysteries in present day high-energy astrophysics.”
Northwestern University’s Vicky Kalogera, the leading astrophysicist in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), added: “Mergers of double neutron stars were predicted over many decades to drive such powerful explosions, but this multi-messenger discovery brings two key pieces of the puzzle together for the first time.
“Our discovery confirms a lot of our theoretical predictions, including that double neutron stars give rise to gamma rays, optical, infrared, X-rays and radio waves. At the same time, there are hints in these observations that are providing new mysteries we still need to understand.”
Only a handful of gravitational waves have been detected since they were discovered early last year for the first time, confirming Albert Einstein’s 100 year old theory.
The implication of the detection has been huge, with it opening up many different realms in the world of physics.