Physicists at the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) have, for the third time in history, been able to observe the curvature of spacetime, which has occurred due to the merger of two black holes at a distance of three billion light-years from Earth. The work was published in the journal Physical Review Letters, reports the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA).
These two merged black holes were 31 and 19 times heavier than the Sun. The resulting object was 49 times heavier than a star in our solar system. The observatory recorded these gravitational waves on November 30, 2016.
This was the third observed case of gravitational waves. It differs from the first two in that the axes of rotation of the colliding black holes were tilted towards each other.
The first time gravitational waves were recorded on September 14, 2015. The second was on December 26, 2015.
The importance of the discovery for scientists is due to the fact that it shed light on a more correct theory of gravity. There is Einstein's theory and dozens of other alternative theories. The new data showed, albeit with rather low accuracy, that Einstein's theory still works and does not need to look for a replacement.
Alena Pinaeva