Explanation: A new sky is becoming visible. When you look up, you see the sky as it appears in light -- electromagnetic radiation. But just over the past year, humanity has begun to see our once-familiar sky as it appears in a different type of radiation -- gravitational radiation. Today, the LIGO collaboration is reporting the detection of GW151226, the second confirmed flash of gravitational radiation after GW150914, the historic first detection registered three months earlier. As its name implies, GW151226 was recorded in late December of 2015. It was detected simultaneously by both LIGO facilities in Washington and Louisiana, USA. In the featured video, an animated plot demonstrates how the frequency of GW151226 changed with time during measurement by the Hanford, Washington detector. This GW-emitting system is best fit by two merging black holes with initial masses of about 14 and 8 solar masses at a redshift of roughly 0.09, meaning, if correct, that it took roughly 1.4 billion years for this radiation to reach us. Note that the brightness and frequency -- here mapped into sound -- of the gravitational radiation peaks during the last second of the black hole merger. As LIGO continues to operate, as its sensitivity continues to increase, and as other gravitational radiation detectors come online in the next few years, humanity's new view of the sky will surely change humanity's understanding of the universe.
Oh come on ! Conf is expected to start tomorrow (Wed) 10:15am PDT. That's like 13+ hours from now. Why waste today's (tonite's for us on US west coast) APOD for that ? Sorry for my ignorance or lack of knowledge, I am not sure if I understand the logic/thought process behind this. Whatever that exciting news/research findings are, they'll be all available in social media and general medial within minutes. Whatever APOD has in mind, can be shown in tomorrow's (Wed night on US west coast) APOD. Right ? What am I missing ?
ShaileshS wrote:Oh come on ! Conf is expected to start tomorrow (Wed) 10:15am PDT. That's like 13+ hours from now. Why waste today's (tonite's for us on US west coast) APOD for that ? Sorry for my ignorance or lack of knowledge, I am not sure if I understand the logic/thought process behind this. Whatever that exciting news/research findings are, they'll be all available in social media and general medial within minutes. Whatever APOD has in mind, can be shown in tomorrow's (Wed night on US west coast) APOD. Right ? What am I missing ?
I agree.
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:26 am
by moontrail
I agree. Regarding Europe's local times is even worse. No new APOD today till evening.
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:41 am
by BobStein-VisiBone
Maybe the announcement will be the discovery of a message from a sentient civilization that was encoded in the LIGO gravitational waves. Probabilistically, the message is most likely be "first post" or somebody complaining about something.
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:12 pm
by Joules
Is that the moon at the top right of the placeholder image?
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 2:40 pm
by dduggan47
Hmm. As YUGE a fan of APOD as I am, I see now that my life revolves around it far less than it does for some!
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 3:56 pm
by Breath Bater
BobStein-VisiBone wrote:Maybe the announcement will be the discovery of a message from a sentient civilization that was encoded in the LIGO gravitational waves. Probabilistically, the message is most likely be "first post" or somebody complaining about something.
Proof that Nibiru exists.
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:39 pm
by RJN
Just updated!
Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:50 pm
by BobStein-VisiBone
Sounds so ... 1985.
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:59 pm
by geckzilla
Bwoop!
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:09 pm
by starsurfer
geckzilla wrote:Bwoop!
I imagine you with a Betty Boop pose as you say that?
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:17 pm
by starsurfer
Also this is an amazing result, worth the wait! Who knows what other radiation is out there waiting to be discovered. Lets's celebrate, this calls for a pizza!
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:45 pm
by neufer
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
starsurfer wrote:
geckzilla wrote:
Bwoop!
I imagine you with a Betty Boop pose as you say that?
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:09 pm
by Ann
neufer wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
starsurfer wrote:
geckzilla wrote:
Bwoop!
I imagine you with a Betty Boop pose as you say that?
I like Betty Boop, but I don't believe she emits any gravitational waves.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this new gravity wave detection!
Ann
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:10 pm
by Jyrki
Ok. Presumably the chirp wave at the end marks the moment when the two black holes became one? Does there exist a theory / model explaining the general shape of this chirp? It would be nice to say that "this is what GR predicted the fusion of two black holes to sound like (on the GW spectrum)
I guess
This GW-emitting system is best fit by two merging black holes with initial masses of about 14 and 8 solar masses
means just that
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:14 pm
by Fred the Cat
Two black holes merging. That's not a good place to be at the wrong time.
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:38 pm
by Boomer12k
So... can we build an Gravitational Wave Generator and make electricity from the motion of "The Strain"? Like with an Ocean Waves... Probably not a big wave by the time it gets to us.
Since it is an action, and has an Energy, an amount, an intensity, a frequency of wavelength, and thus a Load... that means this is Gravitational Charge... The Energy Load of that action... I work with Emotional Charge...and there are other Charges as well....
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:42 pm
by Boomer12k
Zen Astronomer, Grand Master:..."What is the sound of two black holes merging?....."
BwwuuuuiiiIIIPPP!
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:03 pm
by Andyf
I wonder how long the signal was identifiable before the one second clip we've been given. At T minus 1s it is very clear and stable (in the presumably filtered audio) so I can't help but think there is a fair amount of discernible signal prior to the clip.
I also wonder what the background 'flame-effect' in the spectral plot was caused by. A truck on the New Jersey Turn-Pike? somebody walking down a corridor at LIGO? or the dance of massive distant objects?
Well done LIGO!
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:06 pm
by Craig Willford
The previous posters needed to learn patience. I, for one, am very excited at the news of a second detection of gravity waves. I know that landing a human on the moon a second time is less exciting than the first but in the field of science, confirmation by repetition is crucial. I, for one, I'm very excited at the quick repeat of the detection of the merger of two black holes by the gravity waves they put out.
I'm a little puzzled by something though. The graph seems to show the frequency a little above 32 Hertz (maybe about 40 Hz) at the beginning. The tone I hear on the other hand sounds to me closer to middle C on the piano or maybe an octave below. I seem to recall middle C being a frequency of about 256 Hertz and an octave below then being 128 Hz. Am I wrong?
Also, I wish they had adopted a more robust naming convention. Rather than GW151226, which truncates the year to just the last two digits, I wish they had used the full year, such as GW20151226, so that there will be no need to revamp the naming convention a hundred years from now.
Craig Willford
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:17 pm
by andyf
Millennium bug all over again.
Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)
GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, B. P. Abbott et al Physical Review Letters116(24):1103 (17 June 2016) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103
arXiv.org > gr-qc > arXiv:1606.04855 > 15 Jun 2016
GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source of Gravitational Radiation
