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A Cosmic Burst Repeats, Deepening a Mystery
After a surprise discovery, astrophysicists are racing to understand superenergetic flashes of radio waves that sometimes beep out from distant galaxies.
From Gaia, a Twinkling Treasure Trove
The first star map from the ESA’s Gaia space telescope is poised to revolutionize our understanding of the Milky Way galaxy.
Responding Rapidly to Big Discoveries
How do scientists react to major breaking science news? For astrophysicists after the big gravitational waves announcement, it was meeting for two weeks in Santa Barbara, California.
Colliding Black Holes Tell New Story of Stars
Just months after their discovery, gravitational waves coming from the mergers of black holes are shaking up astrophysics.
LIGO Reports Second Black-Hole Merger
The spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory called it “a promising start to mapping the populations of black holes in our universe.”
A Glimpse Through a Cosmic Keyhole
What could cause galaxies millions of light years apart to all spew material in the same direction?
After Black Holes Collide, a Puzzling Flash
A satellite spotted a burst of light just as gravitational waves rolled in from the collision of two black holes. Was the flash a cosmic coincidence, or do astrophysicists need to rethink what black holes can do?
From Einstein’s Theory to Gravity’s Chirp
The path from a revolutionary set of equations to the detection of gravitational waves was strewn with obstacles and controversy, explains the physicist Daniel Kennefick — and the struggle continues.
Gravitational Waves Discovered at Long Last
Ripples in space-time have been detected a century after Einstein predicted them, launching a new era in astronomy.