Searching for Super-long Gravitational Waves

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

 

Video imagery:

·       Visualization of gravitational waves emitted by two black holes of nearly equal mass as they spiral together and merge, from the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center. Credit: NASA/Bernard J. Kelly (Goddard and Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County), Chris Henze (Ames) and Tim Sandstrom (CSC Government Solutions LLC)

·       Animation, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA/GESTAR)

·       Visualization of gravitational waves emitted by two black holes of nearly equal mass as they spiral together and merge, from the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center. Credit: NASA/Bernard J. Kelly (Goddard and Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County), Chris Henze (Ames) and Tim Sandstrom (CSC Government Solutions LLC)

 

Writer: Leah Ramsay

Designer: Leah Hustak

Science review: Dr. Chris Britt

Education review: Jim Manning

Music from Music for Non-Profits

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Pictures of gas giants, colorful nebulae, stars in outer space, and galaxies.

 

Text, NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSE.

 

Two waves of transparent purple spiral out into blackness from a small yellow center.

 

Text, SEARCHING FOR SUPER-LONG GRAVITATIONAL WAVES. SIMULATION. APRIL 21, 2022.

 

The center grows closer and splits into two yellow blobs that rotate around each other and each emit purple waves.

 

Text, When supermassive black holes orbit each other closely, they produce gravitational waves traveling at light speed.

 

The purple waves overlap and expand in all directions.

 

Text, Gravitational waves thousands of miles long have been detected. Astronomers are still searching for the light-years-long waves which are theorized to roll through the universe like a huge sea.

 

The two yellow center black holes move into the distance and the purple waves continue to spread out from them. They move closer again. A cubical satellite with two long flat rectangular panels on either side orbits Earth.

 

Text, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is new to the search, looking for variation created when regular gamma-rays are delayed by a passing gravitational wave.

 

The telescope is slanted away from the Earth out into space.

 

Text, Astronomers are carefully honing techniques and expect to detect these long gravitational waves from supermassive black holes within the next decade.

 

The two yellow center black holes reappear and orbit each other. They emit purple waves.

 

Text, This news was brought to you in part by NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER IN GREENBELT, M.D.