Gravity Waves spotted from White Dwarf Pair

[rose]

Researchers have spotted visible-light evidence for one of astronomy's most elusive targets - gravity waves - in the orbit of a pair of dead stars.

Until now, these ripples in space-time, first predicted by Einstein, have only been inferred from radio-wave sources.

But a change in the orbits of two white dwarf stars orbiting one another 3,000 light-years away is further proof of the waves that can literally be seen.

MORE:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19408363

rose

[A51Watcher]

Amazing...


So Bob was right all along.

Imagine that.   

[Shasta56]

Not quite as spectacular as the special effects from Star Trek, but probably not scripted by Hollywood either.  Some days I feel like the answers are just around the corner, and other days I'm amazed that people can walk and chew gum at the same time. 

Shasta

[deuem]

Surfs up due and dudetts.

Now why is all of this interesting stuff not coming out of good old NASA. Their buget is larger than the BBC



Deuem

[zorgon]

Now why is all of this interesting stuff not coming out of good old NASA. Their budget is larger than the BBC

Silly lemming The image you just posted says NASA on it

[deuem]

Silly lemming The image you just posted says NASA on it

Yea, I know, but the story came out of the BBC. The moment I posted that photo I read it and was going to redo my post but I hit the wrong silly button and just let it slide wondering if someone was going to catch it. I guess you had your coffee today..

Silly Deuem

[PLAYSWITHMACHINES]

Catching sight of an actual gravitational wave, however, is a tricky business; their effects tend to be tiny and the have so far eluded discovery in Earth-bound experiments.

Really?

Over a period of 13 months, the team saw the orbital period reduce by less than a thousandth of a second, but the effect also shifts when the eclipse time is expected to happen, and that has shifted back by some six seconds since the pair were discovered.

True, but this could just be precession, according to Bohr's theories..they could well move apart the same distance over the next 13 months.
A free-hanging gyroscope will accelerate & decelerate according to the size of it's orbit, which follows a precessional pattern.

The team will continue to watch the pair's tightening orbit, and the expected eclipse time should shift back by another 20 seconds by next May. The results will also help guide observations from "direct detection" experiments.

Like i said, precession.....

Assuming that we can have optical side-effects from 'gravity waves' we are also assuming that the gravity wave itself is much faster than light, so it will never really be 'seen'.
If gravity is faster than light, it kind of throws Einstein out the window..

The BBC may not have NASA's budget, but they do have 1.5 million a day to spend, so they can do some pretty cool stuff, when they want to (like the 'planet earth' series).

Did you see the linked article there too?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4415722.stm

Unlike electromagnetic waves - the light seen by traditional telescopes - gravitational waves are extremely weak. If one were to pass through your body it would alternately stretch your space in one dimension while squashing it in another - but the changes are fantastically small.

Any moving mass should send gravitational waves radiating outwards at the speed of light; but only truly massive bodies, such as exploding stars and coalescing neutron stars, can disturb space-time sufficiently for our technology to pick up the signal.

I wish them every success, but don't hold your breath.....

OK i want everyone to aim their Gravitors at Hanover, Germany.
Now plug in a mike & say "Hello from the Pegasus group"

[Littleenki]

Im gonna do it, Luke!

Firing up the flexible gravitor today then...tally ho and Im off!

Hey wheres my batman suit?

Le