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![\"J0806,](\"https:\/\/yaabot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/yaabotgw_im1.jpg\")
<\/a>Chandra data on J0806 shows that its X-rays vary with a period of 321.5 seconds, or slightly more than five minutes. This implies that the X-ray source is a binary star system where two white dwarf stars are orbiting each other (above, illustration) only 50,000 miles apart, making it one of the smallest known binary orbits in the Galaxy. According to Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, such a system should produce gravitational waves – ripples in space-time – that carry energy away from the system and cause the stars to move closer together. X-ray and optical observations indicate that the orbital period of this system is decreasing by 1.2 milliseconds every year, which means that the stars are moving closer at a rate of 2 feet per year.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n These ripples are of great importance to the understanding of our universe. Large celestial bodies radiate these waves which, astonishingly, are an\u00a0encryption of their \u201cgenes\u201d. The carried information not only reveals their cataclysmic origin but also provides thorough insights to the nature of gravity itself. After the prediction of gravitational waves, an inevitable consequence of GTR, science waited until 1974 to behold the practical existence of gravitational waves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Two astronomers from the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico discovered a binary pulsar (highly magnetized rotating neutron star); two extremely dense and heavy stars orbiting around each other. This was the ideal system to show gravitational waves. After forty years of constant study, the system fitted into the GTR predictions with a very high level of accuracy which indirectly hinted at the presence of gravitational waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Related: A Noob\u2019s Guide to the Theory of Quantum Gravity<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the discoveries were all indirect and were insufficient to prove the existence of gravitational waves, for which direct detection was essential. With this aim, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and ESA’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (Elisa) along with multiple other pulsar timing arrays were made to aid in the process of detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gravitational waves are not<\/em><\/strong> electromagnetic waves. <\/em>Two colliding black holes release almost no electromagnetic energy. However, the system sends highly energized gravitational waves which are distortion free and noise less as they stay aloof when it comes to interaction with other objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gravitational waves are generated even with the slightest acceleration change of humans, cars, moving objects etc. But they are of extremely negligible range which makes them practically undetectable by even the most sophisticated instruments. Additionally, gravitational waves are nearly impossible to generate on earth, unlike the famous Higgs Boson which was detected in the LHC. For these reasons, scientists wait for the minutest signal to be detected which originate from black holes, neutron stars and new galaxy formations etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These waves come are of four different types namely Continuous Gravitational waves, Compact Binary Inspiral Gravitational Waves, Stochastic Gravitational Waves and Burst Gravitational waves. <\/strong>Each have their unique characteristics:<\/p>\n\n\n Continuous Gravitational waves<\/strong>: Generated from large single spinning bodies as massive as a Neutron star – any deformations or bumps in the spin can produce a huge ripple which has a time independent frequency and amplitude. Hence the name Continuous Gravitational waves. Researchers simulated their predictions on CGW and processed a sound which is the sound equivalent of gravitational waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compact Binary Inspiral Gravitational Waves: <\/strong>These waves are produced by orbiting pairs of massive and dense (hence ‘compact’) objects like white dwarf stars, black holes and neutron stars. There are three kinds of “compact binary” systems in this category of gravitational wave generators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of the mentioned types produce possess their own set of properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stochastic Gravitational Waves: <\/strong>Small signals detected from all the distributed unknown sources are known as a \u201cStochastic Signal\u201d. Stochastic has a unique meaning which concerns a random pattern, that can be statistically explained but might not have a precise meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burst Gravitational Waves: <\/strong>These gravitational waves are those which do not have definite properties and are completely unknown and mysterious. Thus, these are the toughest to discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, the BICEP 2 radio telescope was thought to have found conclusive evidence of primordial gravitational waves in the instant universe. In 2015, however, the BICEP 2 findings were confirmed to be the result of cosmic dust in the Milky Way.<\/p>\n\n\nDecoding Gravitational Waves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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