[Illustration Credit: LIGO, NSF]
1. every time we develop a way to “see” an additional part of the “stuff” (waves, etc.) that impinge on earth, we get more information about “what’s out there”
microwaves....help us see the earliest times (right after the “Big Bang” or creation)
radio waves...help us map out our (and other) galaxies
infrared... help us detect cool and darker stars, also exoplanets and to measure temperatures of objects out there
visible light... what you see every night
ultraviolet... help us see the youngest newest stars and the areas of the sky where stars are ‘born’...so-called star nurseries
x-rays... help us detect neutron stars and the material swirling around black holes, plus very very hot clouds etc
gamma rays ... help us detect supernova explosions and cosmic radioactive decay (and even the destuction of antimatter)
and now gravity waves ...? well, they are created by the rapid movements of very large, heavy masses, objects... so they have wavelengths even longer than the size of those objects..... almost certainly we will see more and more collisions or mergers of black holes.... also maybe we will be able to detect cosmic strings, or at least their collisions in space (super-thin strands left over from creation, the mapping and study of which should therefore help us learn more about creation itself we hope) and also gravity waves probably will pierce the “cloud” of cosmic background radition (supposed to have formed in Year of Creation 380,000)... enabling us some insight into Plank time (right back up the first second of creation)...
we hope.
meanwhile, maybe gravity waves will enable us to do something practical here on earth, too, like maybe detecting Hillary’s buried stash of $2? billion of foreign enemy bribe money and ?