Woof Woof
Sirious, also known as the “Dog Star”, is visible in the pre-dawn sky this time of year; hence the term “dog days of summer.”
Add this to the ever growing list of space oddities: A neutron star swallowed by a black hole.
At least that’s what the signal from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo gravitational wave observatory (measuring tiny vibrations in spacetime) looks like.
This isn’t the first time such a signal has been detected, but earlier signals have been so weak it was hard to confirm the event.
This new signal, detected almost two weeks ago, if confirmed, would certainly be just another example of what can happen as “things go bump in the night!” The good news for us:
a) the detectors work well; and
b) this occurred 900 million light years away, so there’s no reason for us to worry about fallout or side effects!
Also, just because this is the first time we’ve detected such an event, it doesn’t mean this is the first time it’s even happened.
The universe is too big and too old for that to be the case, we’re just late to the game.
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