https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/2018/05/12/gravity-waves-important-scientific-breakthrough/601343002/
About 50 years ago scientists in the United States set about building a project to detect them. In early 2016, LIGO Collaboration observatories in Louisiana and the State of Washington announced that they had both detected GWs from the merger of two Black Holes more than 1 billion light years from Earth. Nobel Prizes were awarded in 2017.
GWs open an independent, amazing new window on the Universe. They can reveal phenomena that can't be seen any other way (Black Hole/Black Hole Mergers), unravel otherwise ambiguous events (Neutron star/Neutron star mergers), and may eventually even expose ripples generated near the beginning of time.
GW detection stimulated a current world-wide effort to simultaneously observe events that produce both electromagnetic radiation (EM follow up) and GWs. Last August a coordinated search revealed a NS/NS merger about 130 million light years from Earth.
Up until then, not everyone agreed that NS/NS mergers produced the type of EM signal observed. The LIGO GW observation removed all doubt. The GW signal predicted for NS/NS mergers fit the data exactly and also confirmed that certain heavy elements--such as gold, platinum and silver — are produced in NS/NS mergers!
These developments promise to benefit Florida in at least three ways: (1) expertise in GW detection and interpretation at the University of Florida and in the physics of star collisions at FSU are becoming increasingly valuable to science and the agencies that fund it; (2) next generation GW detection and EM follow up satellite missions should increase launches from Cape Canaveral; and (3) synergistic academic research and space exploration activities will enhance Florida's STEM educational system, attract high tech industry, and strengthen our economy.
So, let's ride the waves!
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