The longstanding Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), an experiment looking for ripples in space time that could confirm one of the predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity, may have finally detected gravitational waves for the first time, according to The Guardian.
Although the rumor has been circulating for months, a cosmologist at Arizona State University recently tweeted that he received confirmation of the finding.
My earlier rumor about LIGO has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting.
— Lawrence M. Krauss (@LKrauss1) January 11, 2016
Krauss claims that he is only 60 percent confident that the rumor is true, but if it is then we can expect to see a paper from the team of scientists that describes the signal.
Back in 1915, Einstein predicted that gravity travels in waves, and that these waves in space time act as a net that reacts to astronomical events such as exploding stars and colliding galaxies, according to RT News. According to his predictions, these events should create ripples through the universe that warp space time. Despite a search that has been going on for decades, scientists have yet to discover any proof of the existence of these gravitational waves.
The LIGO works by shooting laser beams to opposing ends of an L-shaped tube, into a mirror and then back to their source, according to the International Business Times. If the length of the tube changes, this would indicate the detection of gravitational waves.
Although previous hopes of discovering gravitational waves turned out to be shattered, the community is still in excitement at the possibility of the LIGO detecting them for the first time.
