Thursday, February 11, 2016

Wicked Wicked Wicked Wicked Gravity

In recognition of the detection of gravitational waves as thunk up by Albert Einstein. (Albert Einstein the Württemberg physicist, not Albert L. Einstein the Beverly Hills comedian.)
Gravitational waves, first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916 as part of his theory of general relativity, are extraordinarily faint ripples in space-time, the hard-to-fathom fourth dimension that combines time with the familiar up, down, left and right. When massive but compact objects like black holes or neutron stars collide, they send gravity ripples across the universe.
We see the back, forth is not so familiar. How many dimensions is the typist working in? To be somewhat fair, the text (& font) here was stolen from TPM, whose version varies from the AP link above.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an announcement that electrified the world of astronomy, scientists said Thursday that they have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago.

Some scientists likened the breakthrough to the moment Galileo took up a telescope to look at the planets.

The discovery of these waves, created by violent collisions in the universe, excites astronomers because it opens the door to a new way of observing the cosmos. For them, it's like turning a silent movie into a talkie because these waves are the soundtrack of the cosmos.

"Until this moment we had our eyes on the sky and we couldn't hear the music," said Columbia University astrophysicist Szabolcs Marka, a member of the discovery team. "The skies will never be the same."

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reversed. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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