enable us to find out what happened just fractions of a second after the big bang by examining the cosmic
microwave background in exquisite detail.
Now 5 years later they are getting closer than ever to finally getting some answers. They recently released an announcement saying they have just found some signs of primordial gravitational waves.
A ways back Einstein theorized that gravitational waves were a kind of ripple in space-timeand did in fact exist.
Scientists were using Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarisation (BICEP2 for short) at an experiment at the South Pole and may have found footprints these waves.
What might this mean in lamens terms?
Studying the Universe with gravitational waves can bring about a wealth of new data. Produced mostly by catastrophic events like collisions of black holes, these waves are completely different in their nature from electromagnetic radiation. It is like adding sound to our image of the Universe.
No comments:
Post a Comment