What is the
sound of two black holes merging in deep space?
Sound waves don't propagate in vacuum, but
gravitational waves do.
In 2015 we were able to "hear" them for the
first time and confirm one of
Albert Einstein's theoretical predictions.
Each
square on the
grid of the
featured image represents one of the gravitational wave detections announced
so far by the
LIGO-
VIRGO-
KAGRA Collaboration.
These plots show how the binary pair accelerates in their
orbit around each other towards merger: the rising frequency effect is called a "
chirp".
Although there are significantly more
neutron stars than
black holes,
most of the detections are binary black hole mergers.
That happens because black holes are
heavier and their signals are louder and can be seen farther away, resulting in more detections.
These events are
rare, and we don't expect to see one close by in our
Galaxy any time soon.
But they are happening
continuously throughout the cosmos.