Less than two years have passed since scientists working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology first detected gravitational waves coming off two black holes. The LIGO instruments work in unison and use lasers to detect remarkably small vibrations from gravitational waves as they pass through the earth. Previously, scientists could only study space by observing electromagnetic waves such as radio waves, visible light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays. Those waves encounter interference as they travel across the universe, but gravitational waves do not, meaning they offer a wealth of additional information. Neutron stars are relatively small, about the size of a city, the compact remains of a larger star that died.

Source: bd News24 October 16, 2017 13:52 UTC