Originally Posted by steveq (Post 12905020)

Except this isn't the first observation, and the observed facts fit existing theories. If you are versed in the physics, this is, yes, its tapping for the very edges of our ability to make measurements, but LIGO now is already much more sensitive than the original LIGO of a couple of years ago. Its still not at the theoretical performance limit

Originally Posted by steveq (Post 12905029)

No, the waves are emitted as large masses rotate very rapidly in the final moments, then, once the merger has happened, the motion ceases. Yes, theoretically there will be some disturbance, but the current instruments have a limited band of frequencies they can actually detect.

https://www.youtube.com/6watch?v=JKBBVgR991s

Here you can HEAR the result of the collision. Bear in mind, these are things 50x more massive than the sun, rotating at hundreds of times a second, just before the collision, and they get faster and faster until they merge

Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12905023)

Or they merge as kind of a pop ?

Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12905037)

So that blip we hear on the model, how much time does it represent?

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12905049)

Yeah, it happens that quickly. When your mass is 140 times the mass of the sun there is a lot of gravity involved that makes things happen very quickly

Originally Posted by steveq (Post 12905066)

I have had the very great honour of talking with and shaking the hand of Professor Barry Barish, co winner of the Nobel for Ligo.

Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12905069)

Difficult for my primitive ape brain to comprehend,

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12905079)

Hmmm. [[i]Mulling over previous exchange.] :unsure:

Well bear in mind that the black hole has all its mass concentrated at a singularity (point of zero volume), so its not like the two event horizons are in any way representative of an amount of matter that needs to merge.

The event horizon of the black hole is just a "light vacuum" (volume of space from which light cannot escape). So a black hole of 70 solar masses would have an event horizon diamter of about 250 miles, but two black holes of that size (of event horizon) will merge in the blink of an eye as the two singularities merge.

Originally Posted by lizzyq (Post 12917530)

Nasa go catches up with the fact that women have different plumbing: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54387288

Originally Posted by steveq (Post 12917533)

No, the current system was unisex, the new system is just better. It has a tighter seal to the parts that matter.

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12941545)

We all know that space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is.

But it seems that that there are vastly more galaxies in it than the figures that have been thrown about over the past 20-30 years. :blink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFFS8cewBCU