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Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time created by the interaction of massive objects in space, such as black holes and neutron stars. Their existence was first predicted by Albert Einstein in his 1916 paper describing his theory of general relativity. In 2015, scientists made the first detection of gravitational waves, observing ripples from the collision of two black holes. The discovery won astrophysicists Kip Thorne, Barry Baris and Rainer Weiss the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics. Subsequent observations have also detected gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars. Learn more about gravitational waves here.

Related Topics: Black Holes, Dark Matter, The Theory of Relativity in Space

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This composite image combines data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the NSF's Karl Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Chandra observed powerful X-rays (red) produced by hot gas circling around a black hole at the center of a galaxy located 9.9 billion light-years from Earth. The VLA was used to detect radio-wave emissions (blue) emitted by the jet of high-energy particles streaming from the black hole.

Space Photos: The Most Amazing Images This Week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

Here are our picks for the most amazing space photos of the week.

An artist's illustration of two black holes merging and creating ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves.

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By Paul Sutter

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A 3D gravitational waveform from a general relativistic simulation of binary black holes.

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By Samantha Mathewson

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Illustration of supernova

Mysterious Gravitational Wave Sparks Days-Long Hunt — But It Was Just a Glitch

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This wasn't what anyone was hoping for.

Clouds that formed on the crests of gravity waves made their ripples visible to satellites.

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A series of images show a kilonova fading over about 10 days of observation by the Hubble Space Telescope.

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By Elizabeth Howell

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LIGO merging neutron stars

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Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula, a famous and well-studied supernova remnant.

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An artist's illustration of two black holes spiraling together, creating gravitational waves in the process.

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This artist's illustration shows two colliding neutron stars, the super-dense cores left behind after stars undergo supernova explosions.

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A simulated image of two black holes colliding.

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This bright burst of X-rays, observed by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, was likely generated by the collision of two neutron stars 6.6 billion light-years from Earth, a new study reports.

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art of two neutron stars merging.

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Illustration of two neutron stars merging

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ligo-merger-data

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Merging Neutron Stars

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Two Spiral Galaxies About to Merge

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Bose-Einstein condensate

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