Spacetime Strikes Again

Where do black holes go to die? Apparently to other black holes. They circle each other on a spiral of consummation and merging and death and rebirth as a neutron star. And this time, for the first time in history, scientists on Earth have detected this cosmic event via gravitational waves.

ACS resident astronomer Christian Youngs won his CAS colors with a fiery presentation on this event. The handsome teacher with a handsome beard delivered a lecture filled with palpable passion and impenetrable science.

Basically, two black holes are dancing around each other a gazillion light years away, and sending gravitational waves through spacetime. Astronomers from the LIGO facilities in Louisiana and Washington State have detected the waves – or that's how they interpret what they detected, based on Einstein's Relativity Theory. It's all very theoretical when you're dealing with the equivalent of a proton hiccup transmitted across parsecs.

 But Youngs' lecture was riveting and enlightening. And highly appreciated by his colleagues who applauded, asked practical questions, and kept discussing the issue on their way to Parent-Teacher Conferences.

For a much more coherent (than mine) explanation of what may be transpiring between those two black holes, please check out this summary:

http://www.space.com/31900-gravitational-waves-discovery-ligo.html