The first direct detection of gravitational waves one hundred years after Albert Einstein predictions
Abstract
Thursday, September 14, 2015 will be undoubtedly remembered as a milestone in the history of physics and astronomy when gravitational waves were directly detected for the first time. Two extremely sensitive interferometers at observatories Advanced LIGO in the United States (see Fig. 1) captured signal GW150914.
It was so bright and clear that it could be quite plausibly interpreted as a result of the collision and merging of two massive black holes that took place more than a billion years deep in space. After many decades of enormous effort, astronomy finally entered a whole new era of direct detection of dynamic gravitational fields of distant astrophysical objects such as black holes, neutron stars, or supernovae, and eventually maybe even the Big Bang itself.
Who knows what unexpected discoveries are awaiting us.