Gravitational waves have detected the collision of black holes. If we can measure how frequently this happens, we should be able to determine how often the stars that become these black holes form.
Nearby Super-Jupiters with very tight orbits produce gravitational waves that will be detectable by space-based gravitational wave detectors.
The annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia happened last week; here’s a short summary of some of the incredible science happening Down Under!
What happens as a small black hole spirals into a supermassive black hole?
As Carl Sagan said, “If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” More specifically, to make some neutron-rich elements like gold and uranium, you need neutron star mergers. Check out Professor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz’s upcoming #AAS232 talk to learn more about what it takes to make the heaviest elements in the universe.
Transient noise in the LIGO detector – called “glitches” – can contaminate gravitational wave signals. We need to know how to deal with them, particularly in the case when we don’t know what the signal will look like.