Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime, caused by accelerating massive objects. They were predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity in 1916 but weren't directly detected until 2015. Gravitational waves are created by the most violent events in the universe: merging black holes, neutron star collisions, and supernovae. They carry information about their sources across the universe.

Gravitational waves are detected using laser interferometers like LIGO and Virgo. These instruments measure tiny changes in distance (smaller than a proton) caused by passing gravitational waves. Space-based detectors like LISA are planned to detect lower-frequency waves. Gravitational wave astronomy allows us to observe events we can't see with light, like black hole mergers.