"Hubble Science"
"Gravitational Waves // Ripples in Space-Time"
Einstein is responsible for the theory of general relativity which is a way of looking at the
universe that has been proven out by observational evidence for the last 100 plus years. His basic
tenet is that mass warps space-time, and that this can be observed and that as in particular massive
objects spiral around each other. That they give out gravitational radiation or gravitational waves.
This is ripples in space-time that is being caused by that mass interacting with space-time itself.
So that leads to a tremendous amount of predictions in particular as binaries
inspiral and collide with each other, we would see these waves rise to a peak and then ripple across
the universe and that they could even be detected if we had the right kind of technology to be able
to feel or see or hear space-time itself moving. Gravitational radiation astronomy is developing
detectors that can actually measure that change in space time itself. On laser interferometry this
is the best way that we can actually measure this phenomenon. In 2017 a signal that was consistent
with one of these gravitational wave increases and then decreases, we call it chirp, it gets bright and
then it dies down. It looked like the prediction. For the fact that we saw a gravitational wave
signal that was consistent with inspiring neutron stars and a kilonova as a result but kilonova is
more energetic than a nova less energetic than a supernova. At the same time we saw a short gamma ray
burst that was great news and it meant that we could take all the telescopes at our disposal
and quickly point them at the location of the gamma ray burst. Hubble was called into the chase.
Hubble images show us a very interesting galaxy and the location of that kilonova
afterglow. So Hubble was able to show us what was happening in that position, tell us how bright it
was and importantly pinpoint the location you know it's telling us where it was happening
in the galaxy and not only is that giving us information about where it was in the galactic
environment but that's also crucial information for other telescopes to be able to point to that
same location and we can take that data and combine it into that multi-wavelengthlength picture.
As the laser interferometry gets more and more power behind it and starts to see more and more of
these objects we are going to usher in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy we're going to learn
a tremendous amount about very rare events like kilonovae and other things that happen that give
off gravitational waves that are going to allow us to just build more pieces onto that puzzle.
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