Thanks BenLurkin.
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Posted on 10/18/2021 8:02:11 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of Einstein's spacetime—that cross the universe at the speed of light have all sorts of wavelengths, or frequencies. Scientists have not yet managed to detect gravitational waves at extremely low 'nanohertz' frequencies, but new approaches currently being explored are expected to confirm the first low frequency signals quite soon.
The main method uses radio telescopes to detect gravitational waves using pulsars—exotic, dead stars, that send out pulses of radio waves with extraordinary regularity. Researchers at the NANOGrav collaboration, for example, use pulsars to time to exquisite precision the rotation periods of a network, or array, of millisecond pulsars—astronomers' best approximation of a network of perfect clocks—spread throughout our galaxy. These can be used to measure the fractional changes caused by gravitational waves as they spread through the universe.
The question of what is producing these signals, however, has yet to be determined. Scientists in the University of Birmingham's Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy, argue that it will be extremely difficult to settle on an answer using only data from pulsar timing arrays (PTAs).
Instead, in a letter published today in Nature Astronomy, they suggest that combining this new data with observations made by other projects such as the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, will help the different signals still lingering from the earliest periods of our universe to be disentangled and interpreted.
The main theory for ultra-low frequency gravitational waves is that they are caused by a population of the supermassive black holes at the center of merging galaxies. As galaxies merge, their central black holes pair up, forming binaries and generating gravitational waves. In this case, a detection of gravitational waves by PTA would offer exciting new ways to study the astrophysics of the assembly and growth of galaxies.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
So?
A needle pulling thread.
Buttons on your underwear.
My butt’s in my underwear, but whatever floats your boat...
i wonder if anyone has investigated whether twerking is a source of gravitational waves
Interesting. Pulsars are so regular throughout the universe they can be used like clocks going back to the Big Bang..
>> low ‘nanohertz’ frequencies,
nano, micro, milli, one, ... mega, giga
where nano amounts to 1 cycle every billion seconds?
La, a note to follow so
Nano is a billionth. There are a billion nano seconds in a second.
I notice that my arthritis gets worse the closer michele obama’s ass is to me.
Thank you for that enlightening comment. I mean that sincerely. It makes one wonder how long a thread could a needle pull. Many many thousands of times its own length no doubt. So the analogy may be apt.
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