The scientists first discovered in a space called gravitational waves, from two black holes joining 2015. September This discovery noted the 100 -year aspiration, which proved one of Einstein’s predictions.
Two years after this moment of physics a body of water, 2017 August The second breakthrough of the late summer came: the first detection of gravitational waves, accompanied by electromagnetic waves from the connection of two neutron stars.
Gravity waves are excited to scientists because they give a whole new image of the universe. Conventional astronomy depends on electromagnetic waves, as well as light, but gravitational waves are an independent messenger that can originate from objects that emit light. The detection of gravitational waves unlocked the dark side of the universe, giving scientists access to phenomena that have never been observed.
As a gravitational wave physicist with more than 20 years of research experience in Ligo’s scientific cooperation, I initially saw these discoveries changed the knowledge of scientists about the universe.
This summer, in 2025, researchers of Ligo, Miro and Kagra also noted a new phase. After a long break to upgrade its equipment, this cooperation has just published a refurbished list of gravitational wave discoveries. The discoveries of this list give researchers an unprecedented view of the universe, including the clearer detection of gravitational waves.
What are the gravitational waves?
Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916. The theory of Einstein’s gravity, known as the general relativity, massive, dense sky objects, fold the space and time.
When these massive objects such as black holes and neutron stars – the final supernova product – orbit around each other, they form a binary system. The movement of this system dynamically stretches and compresses the space around these objects, sending gravitational waves throughout the universe. These waves still change the distance between other objects of the universe as they pass.
Carefully measure the distances to determine the gravitational waves. The cooperation between Ligo, Virgo and Kagra is conducting four gravitational wave observatories: two Ligo observatory in the US, Virgin Observatory in Italy and Kagros Observatory in Japan.
Each detector has a L -shaped hands that exceed two miles. Each hand has a cavity full of reflected laser light, which exactly measures the distance between two mirrors.
After gravitational waves, this changes the distance between mirrors 10-18 Meters – only 0.1% proton diameter. Astronomers can measure how mirrors fluctuate to follow the orbit of black holes.
These small distance changes encode a huge amount of information about their source. They can tell us the masses of every black hole or neutron star, their location and whether they rotate on their axis.
The connection of neutrons star black hole
As mentioned earlier, Ligo, Mergo and Kagra Collaboration recently reported 128 new binary reunification from data from 2023. May 24 And 2024. January 16, which are more than double the previous number.
Among these new discoveries is the merger of neutron stars and black holes. This merger consists of a relatively light black hole, which is 2.5 to 4.5 times the mass of our sun, paired with a neutron star, which is 1.4 times larger than the mass of our sun.
In this type of system, scientists theoretorizes that the black hole has torn a neutron star before swallowing, which releases electromagnetic waves. Unfortunately, the cooperation failed to detect any such electromagnetic waves for this system.
When the electromagnetic equivalent of the black hole that breaks down a separate, the neutrons star are among the saints’ astronomy and astrophysics. These electromagnetic waves will provide rich data sets needed to understand both extreme matter and extreme gravity. Scientists expect a better destiny, and the next time the detectors will notice such a system.
The massive binary and clear gravitational waves
2025 In July The cooperation between Ligo, Miro and Kagra also announced that they had found the largest merger of binary black holes ever found. The total mass of this system is more than 200 times the mass of our sun. And in one of the two black holes in this system, there is probably a mass that was previously thought that scientists could not be produced after the collapse of one star.
The latest discovery of Ligo, Miro and Kagra Collaboration in 2025 was announced. September Is the clearest monitoring of gravitational waves so far. This event is a clone of the first gravitational waves nearly 10 years ago, but since Ligo detectors have improved over the last decade, it is distinguished by three times more than the first discovery.
Because the observed gravitational wave signal is so clear, scientists could confirm that the final black hole formed from the merger spreading the gravitational waves exactly as it should, depending on the overall relativity.
They also showed that the surface area of the final black hole was larger than the surface area of the initial black holes, which means that the merger increased the entropy based on the basis of Stephen Hawking and James Bekenstein. Entropy measures the messy system. All physical interactions are expected to increase the disorder of the universe based on thermodynamics. This latest discovery has shown that black holes follow their own laws similar to thermodynamics.
The beginning of a longer legacy
The fourth running of Ligo, Mergo and Kagra Collaboration continues and will last until November. My colleagues and I am expecting more than 100 additional discoveries in the coming years.
New observations starting from 2028 can reconcile the list of binary merger by 1000 to 2030 if the cooperation retains its funding.
The monitoring of the gravitational wave is still in the initial stage. The proposed “Ligo” update, called#, can increase the speed of gravitational wave detection at another 10 factor. New Observatory, known as Cosmic Explorer and Einstein telescope, which can be built over 10-20 years, will increase the speed of gravitational wave detection by 1 000 compared to current speed, further reducing the speed of detector gravitational waves.
This article has been published from a conversation, non -profit, independent news organizations that provide you with facts and reliable analysis to help you give meaning to our complex world. This was written: Chad Hanna, Penn state
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Chad Hanna receives funding from the National Science Foundation.