As many of you may have heard, It was recently proved that Einstein was right about Gravitational waves. What are these waves?
Well, for starters, it was 100 years ago that Einstein predicted the presence of gravitational waves, as a part of his theory of relativity.
The idea was that the waves are like ripples in space, caused by some of the violent and energetic processes in the Universe. For example, two black holes crashing into each other.
Imagine throwing a rock into a pond. When the rock hits the flat surface of the water, it creates ripples or waves. Spacetime is like the surface of the water. So that means gravitational waves are like the ripples moving out from where the rock hits the water.
For years, scientists were closely watching the movement of two black holes in a galaxy far off. When they finally crashed into each other, after spiraling due to loss in energy due to gravitational waves , it was with such power and force, that gravitational waves rang throughout the universe, like a giant bell. A power lager than 50 times the power of all Stars in the universe combined
Travelling at the speed of light, The gravitational waves reached Earth after 1.3 BILLION years later. (Imagine that for a distance.)
As quoted by scientist Abhay Ashtekar "Our understanding of the heavens changed dramatically "
Gravitational waves are certainly a breakthrough discovery in Spacetime.