I wonder whether there is any directional information in the data so that optical telescopes could then be pointed at the source. There are also various detectors of high energy cosmic rays round the planet. I imagine that if two black holes collapse into one another, thought to be the possible source of these gravitational waves, then some fairly beefy comics with be emitted. Neutrinos too coming to think of it.

I agree with that and this is a momentous discovery which, yet again, validates Einstein's General Relativity.

There are a couple of interesting articles below:

Einstein's gravitational waves 'seen' from black holes

Gravitational waves: A triumph for big science

The two highly sensitive LIGO detectors at opposite ends of the continental United States will be joined by an equally sensitive Advanced Virgo detector based in Italy which should start operating from 2017 onwards.

PBS Space Time channel summary video on today's announcement: https://youtu.be/gw-i_VKd6Wo
Related earlier video: https://youtu.be/1Tstyqz2g7o

Really is a monumental achievement. Congratulations to the LIGO team.

I thought for sure Keyser_Soze1 would be the one to jump on this first. For shame, for shame, you're slipping Keyser.

Like this one?

I'm also delighted by LIGO's success, especially considering that we're a two-legged species. Go bipeds!

Chuckle. Sorry: "cosmic rays".

I am indeed!

To make up for my tardniness here are a few links.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...etime-science/

http://news.discovery.com/space/gala...ime-160211.htm

http://news.discovery.com/space/dark...rth-160211.htm

http://www.wired.com/2016/02/scienti...-the-universe/

http://www.livescience.com/53683-gra...ifference.html

http://www.livescience.com/53684-gra...ves-found.html

http://www.livescience.com/53693-ima...le-merger.html

http://www.livescience.com/53694-sou...ack-holes.html

Has there been any response from the ELISA* team? I wonder how it affects their schedule, and when we might expect an all-sky gravitational-wave survey. The thought of peering behind the CMB makes me go .

(*I've only just found out that she's changed her name! )

...and while we're at it:

Antarctic fungi survive 18 months in Mars-like conditions on board the ISS. Tiny fungi that grow in the cracks of Antarctic rocks have just spent 18 months on board the International Space Station (ISS) in conditions similar to those on Mars, and 60 percent of their cells survived with stable DNA, new research reveals.

...and:

I can tell you that we are going to use it for the next big trip to Mars, which will be a sample return mission. In fact, I am the chief engineer of that project. We’re going to take the same landing system and a rover that is very similar to Curiosity, except that it has a different set of equipment.

[background to the above:

'Red Dragon' Mars Sample-Return Mission Could Launch by 2022. SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule could be modified to help bring Mars samples back to Earth, some researchers say.]

Good Job, that's the Keyser we know.

What future implications does everyone think this discovery will have? New planetary discoveries? New technologies invented? I know that they held off on any announcements before publishing their findings to make sure that it will hopefully hold up to the numerous peer reviews.

It's difficult to see any practical implications.......it'll open another window on the universe but only to look for extreme events.

I can't see it having any implications on Earth or in discoveries at the scale of planets.

I suppose it's more akin to the discovery around 1920 that light was bent by passing near huge mass objects like stars. It didn't lead to lots of gravitational light bending technology

I am wondering why so many people on my Facebook are so excited about this discovery. I never realised they were such massive physics fans,

I get the impression they are just trying to sound clever, but that's surely not the case.

Not being particularly familiar with Einstein's theories myself and unsure what effect our awareness of these gravitational noises will have for us here on Earth, I am not that excited myself. Well done to the scientists though.

Understanding gravitational lensing has enabled astronomers to see much further back in time than had previously been possible so it has had a direct impact on our knowledge of the Universe. I suspect the study of gravitational waves will eventually do likewise.

The most obvious "extreme event" being the origin of the Universe...

There are already upgrades to the detector sensitivity planned, and space-based detectors will be even more sensitive, so the range of astronomical events that can be observed gravitationally will increase.

And the engineering that had to be developed is pretty impressive, so there may be some "practical" spin-offs from that.

I like this explanation.
"It's like looking at the universe with new eyes — the amount of information that's there is going to be amazing," says Mina Arvanitaki
"Teukolsky says the discovery shows just how extraordinary the natural world can be. "The universe is stranger than any kind of fiction we could imagine," he says. "I mean, it's preposterous."
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...-holes-collide

Here is a plethora of articles and videos about the Gravity Waves and LIGO.
http://www.space.com/31894-gravitati...-coverage.html

Has the Pope commented yet?

It's unlikely that this announcement will lead to new technologies, we've only really confirmed what we thought we knew - that gravitational waves exist. This announcement will no doubt lead to increased funding for similar projects. One thing it might make possible is to 'see' beyond the surface of last scattering, looking back to when the Universe was still opaque to electromagnetic waves. We might glimpse the precursors to the ripples in the Cosmic Microwave Background, and put the Big Bang Theory to the test.

Lets all hope in time this allows scientists to definitively answer the question about the Big Bang and the creation of the Cosmos. Also when NASA finally puts a man on Mars they will be able to observe that the martians have been riding around on their rovers like ATVs.

I thought that there was no "theoretical" explanation to the Big Bang - that it was just an ad hoc explanation thrown in to explain how the universe went from very small (pin head sized) to very big - very quickly. Something to do with a "phase" change of matter (?).

You are thinking of inflation, a period of exponential expansion which was introduced to resolve some problems with the Big Bang as originally conceived. But that epoch has come and gone a tiny fraction of a second after the initial event, and the Universe is still very small at the end of it. It's just that it's a lot bigger than when inflation started. About a factor of 10E26 bigger...

Off topic: It is very hard to build actual space crafts that would hold up to all the complications faced in space, but I was just thinking off hand if there was a possible way to get a nuclear sub to space how well could it possibly survive? It's nuclear powered so it has a long term power supply, they have air re-breathers than scrub oxygen to breath, their ballasts could be filled with water to protect against radiation, and most importantly it would look REALLY cool.

I know its a stupid question but technically it seems to have all the tools for success.

I'm not sure it would survive very well at all. One obvious problem is that a submarine hull is designed to handle pressures that are higher on the outside than on the inside. In space, it's the other way round. And the air scrubbers on a submarine are to remove excess CO2 - the oxygen comes from electrolysing sea water. That might be a problem in space.

Okay you can throw all the technical stuff at it all you want but you can't deny it would be pretty bad ass. That good sir is irrefutable.

Edit: Proof
http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.c...?itok=2jrKloIL
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...d16d9a24f9.jpg
http://www.wallpaperup.com/133494/Te...submarine.html

Yeah, they do look pretty bad ass.

Sorry, the Daily Mail says otherwise - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...s-nothing.html

(Article & comments are hilarious)



He said that would be an ecumenical matter.