#Space wallpaper black hole series

Most of the gigantean gravitational waves are probably produced by pairs of supermassive black holes spiraling toward cataclysmic collisions throughout the cosmos, the NANOGrav scientists report in a series of new papers published today (June 29) in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Credit: Aurore Simonnet for the NANOGrav Collaboration

By carefully measuring the radio waves, a team of scientists recently made the first detection of the universe’s gravitational wave background. Those gravitational waves compress and stretch the paths of radio waves emitted by pulsars (white). In this artist’s interpretation, a pair of supermassive black holes (top left) emits gravitational waves that ripple through the fabric of space-time. The newly detected gravitational waves - ripples in the fabric of space-time - are by far the most powerful ever measured: They carry roughly a million times as much energy as the one-off bursts of gravitational waves from black hole and neutron star mergers detected by experiments such as LIGO and Virgo. The groundbreaking discovery was made by scientists with the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) who closely observed stars called pulsars that act as celestial metronomes. This groundbreaking discovery presents the first evidence for the gravitational wave background, which is surprisingly louder than anticipated, possibly pointing to an abundance of supermassive black holes or alternative gravitational wave sources.Īfter 15 years of carefully observing stars called pulsars throughout our galaxy, the NANOGrav collaboration has “heard” the perpetual chorus of gravitational waves rippling through our universe.įollowing 15 years of data collection in a galaxy-sized experiment, scientists have “heard” the perpetual chorus of gravitational waves rippling through our universe for the first time - and it’s louder than expected. Following 15 years of observing pulsars, the NANOGrav collaboration has detected gravitational waves stronger than ever before, likely produced by supermassive black hole pairs.

Space wallpaper black hole