Major breakthrough in understanding ‘dark’ side of universe.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The prediction of Albert Einstein in 1915 about the existence of gravitational waves that bind space and time has been proven right by a group of scientists who now believe that they have a gateway to understanding the “dark” side of the universe.
There have been confirmations from physicists from across the world about gravitational waves originating from two large black holes in the universe, which are more than 1.5 billion light years away from Earth.
In a moment’s time, the black holes that collided with each other are believed to have produced immense energy that is still believed to be traveling after it reached earth 1.5 billion years after the event. These waves were captured by the gravitational wave instruments set up on Earth by scientists.
The new discovery has not only proved true the theory of relativity put forward by Albert Einstein but also is the first ever direct detection of black hole collision. Black holes are mysterious regions in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape. The strong gravity occurs because matter has been pressed into a tiny space.
Eminent scientists are of the opinion that the discovery of the gravitational waves is way ahead of the discovery of Higgs Boson as it has now offered new avenues to understanding the universe and the unexplored areas of the universe.
Two earth stations in America, equipped with super sensitive instruments that are capable of detecting sub-atomic movements in the space registered same activities that are caused when gravitational waves pass through the Earth.
The discovery of gravitational waves will now enable scientists to look at the universe in a very different perspective, giving more insights into the dark side of the unexplored realms of the space, which could date back to the origin of time.
By setting up gravitational wave detecting centres in both earth and in space, scientists can see through the long history of the universe, giving astronomers a chance to witness the collision between black holes and other starts, it could also shed light on the principles of time travel, which will take scientists to the time when big bang happened, close to 13.7 billion years ago.
Professor Sheila Rowan, director of the University of Glasgow’s Institute for Gravitational Research was quoted by The Times of India saying, “This detection marks not only a confirmation of Einstein’s theories but most exciting is that it is marks the birth of gravitational astronomy. This expands hugely the way we can observe the cosmos, and the kinds of physics and astrophysics we can do.”
The mission to detect the gravitational waves was officially codenamed GW150914. According to Prof. Alberto Vecchio of the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy, “The observation of GW150914 marks three milestones for physics: the direct detection of gravitational waves, the first observation of a binary black hole, and the most convincing evidence to-date that nature’s black holes are the objects predicted by Einstein’s theory.”
Space-time is a mathematical model which joins space and time into a single idea called a continuum. This four-dimensional continuum is known as Minkowski space. When massive objects in space collide, like the two black holes in this case, they produce immense energy of gravity that like a wave travels at the speed of light through space-time.
In his Special Theory of Relativity, Einstein states two postulates:
- The speed of light (about 300,000,000 meters per second) is the same for all observers, whether or not they’re moving.
- Anyone moving at a constant speed should observe the same physical laws.