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Astronomy

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LIGO Reports Second Black-Hole Merger

June 15, 2016

The spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory called it “a promising start to mapping the populations of black holes in our universe.”

A Glimpse Through a Cosmic Keyhole

June 14, 2016

What could cause galaxies millions of light years apart to all spew material in the same direction?

After Black Holes Collide, a Puzzling Flash

March 2, 2016

A satellite spotted a burst of light just as gravitational waves rolled in from the collision of two black holes. Was the flash a cosmic coincidence, or do astrophysicists need to rethink what black holes can do?

Q&A

From Einstein’s Theory to Gravity’s Chirp

February 18, 2016

The path from a revolutionary set of equations to the detection of gravitational waves was strewn with obstacles and controversy, explains the physicist Daniel Kennefick — and the struggle continues.

Gravitational Waves Discovered at Long Last

February 11, 2016

Ripples in space-time have been detected a century after Einstein predicted them, launching a new era in astronomy.

Scientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life

February 2, 2016

Searching for signs of life on faraway planets, astrobiologists must decide which telltale biosignature gases to target.

Q&A

Searching the Sky for the Wobbles of Gravity

October 22, 2015

The physicist Gabriela González is on the cusp of finding the first direct evidence of gravitational waves — soundlike wobbles in space-time produced by black holes and their kin.

The Particle That Broke a Cosmic Speed Limit

May 14, 2015

Physicists are beginning to unravel the mysteries of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, particles accelerated by the most powerful forces in the universe.

Strange Stars Pulse to the Golden Mean

March 10, 2015

Nature has revealed peculiar mathematical objects that connect order and chaos.

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