Their job was to watch for these gravitational waves. They have been looking on and off since 2002.
For years, scientists have been watching two black holes in another galaxy faraway. The two were spinning around each other, moving closer and closer together. When they finally crashed into each other, it was with such power and force, that gravitational waves rang throughout the universe, like a giant bell.
Those waves, traveling at the speed of light, finally reached the Earth, some 1.3 billion years later. They are the same waves that the scientists announced this past week.
The National Science Foundation tweeted that each of the black holes was thought to be 29 to 36 times the mass of our sun.
So, what does this discovery mean?
Abhay Ashtekar is a Penn State physicist, who was not on the discovery team. He said:
“Our understanding of the heavens changed dramatically.”
I’m Anne Ball.
Rick Pantaleo and Kevin Enochs reported on this story for VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
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