![]() The source of the faint signal detected by LIGO was the merger of two black holes, each of which about 30 times the mass of the Sun. ![]() LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) had just reported the very first observation of gravitational waves, a discovery to which researchers at the University of Birmingham made many contributions. Professor Alberto Vecchio, Director, Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy - University of Birmingham We need a new kind of instrument to do this, because the radiation from massive black holes is fundamentally unobservable from a detector on Earth as its frequency is too low. If we could observe gravitational waves from these cosmic dances we could build a radically new map of how some of the fundamental building blocks of the Universe evolve, which is surrounded by mystery. Predicted by Einstein in 1916 as a fundamental consequence of his theory of general relativity, gravitational radiation was essentially relegated to oblivion for a century, but it made the front page of pretty much every newspaper in the world in February 2016. Black holes that are accelerated to speeds close to the speed of light, for example when two of these objects pair up and orbit around each other in a tight orbit, are ideal sources. Gravitational waves are ripples of space-time that propagate at the speed of light throughout the universe. ![]() However, some astronomers will turn it into an even bigger telescope – effectively the size of thousands of light years – tuned to observe a radically different kind of radiation: ultra-low frequency gravitational waves. ![]() The Square Kilometre Array is as big as it gets for radio astronomy. In astronomy, a bigger instrument usually, though not always, means a better instrument. With a vast number of antennas located across two continents, Australia and South Africa, it will provide unprecedented capability to scrutinise the faintest radio signals from the deepest regions of the cosmos. The construction of the Square Kilometre Array – the largest radio telescope ever conceived – has begun. ![]()
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