APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

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APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:07 am

Image GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source of Gravitational Radiation

Explanation: A new sky is becoming visible. When you look up, you see the sky as it appears in light -- electromagnetic radiation. But just over the past year, humanity has begun to see our once-familiar sky as it appears in a different type of radiation -- gravitational radiation. Today, the LIGO collaboration is reporting the detection of GW151226, the second confirmed flash of gravitational radiation after GW150914, the historic first detection registered three months earlier. As its name implies, GW151226 was recorded in late December of 2015. It was detected simultaneously by both LIGO facilities in Washington and Louisiana, USA. In the featured video, an animated plot demonstrates how the frequency of GW151226 changed with time during measurement by the Hanford, Washington detector. This GW-emitting system is best fit by two merging black holes with initial masses of about 14 and 8 solar masses at a redshift of roughly 0.09, meaning, if correct, that it took roughly 1.4 billion years for this radiation to reach us. Note that the brightness and frequency -- here mapped into sound -- of the gravitational radiation peaks during the last second of the black hole merger. As LIGO continues to operate, as its sensitivity continues to increase, and as other gravitational radiation detectors come online in the next few years, humanity's new view of the sky will surely change humanity's understanding of the universe.

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ShaileshS

Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by ShaileshS » Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:45 am

Oh come on ! Conf is expected to start tomorrow (Wed) 10:15am PDT. That's like 13+ hours from now. Why waste today's (tonite's for us on US west coast) APOD for that ? Sorry for my ignorance or lack of knowledge, I am not sure if I understand the logic/thought process behind this. Whatever that exciting news/research findings are, they'll be all available in social media and general medial within minutes. Whatever APOD has in mind, can be shown in tomorrow's (Wed night on US west coast) APOD. Right ? What am I missing ?

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Case » Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:53 am

So ... 10.30 PDT (San Diego) or 17.30 UTC or 12 hours and 37 minutes to go.
Countdown clock: http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/ge ... ference%20

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by BMAONE23 » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:42 am

Hopefully the announcement is worth the wait and not just a redux of the Feb 11 APOD
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160211.html

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Markus Schwarz » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:04 am

ShaileshS wrote:Oh come on ! Conf is expected to start tomorrow (Wed) 10:15am PDT. That's like 13+ hours from now. Why waste today's (tonite's for us on US west coast) APOD for that ? Sorry for my ignorance or lack of knowledge, I am not sure if I understand the logic/thought process behind this. Whatever that exciting news/research findings are, they'll be all available in social media and general medial within minutes. Whatever APOD has in mind, can be shown in tomorrow's (Wed night on US west coast) APOD. Right ? What am I missing ?
I agree.

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by moontrail » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:26 am

I agree. Regarding Europe's local times is even worse. No new APOD today till evening.

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by BobStein-VisiBone » Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:41 am

Maybe the announcement will be the discovery of a message from a sentient civilization that was encoded in the LIGO gravitational waves. Probabilistically, the message is most likely be "first post" or somebody complaining about something.

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Joules » Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:12 pm

Is that the moon at the top right of the placeholder image?

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by dduggan47 » Wed Jun 15, 2016 2:40 pm

Hmm. As YUGE a fan of APOD as I am, I see now that my life revolves around it far less than it does for some!

Breath Bater

Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Breath Bater » Wed Jun 15, 2016 3:56 pm

BobStein-VisiBone wrote:Maybe the announcement will be the discovery of a message from a sentient civilization that was encoded in the LIGO gravitational waves. Probabilistically, the message is most likely be "first post" or somebody complaining about something.
Proof that Nibiru exists.

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by RJN » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:39 pm

Just updated!

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Re: APOD: APOD Placeholder (2016 Jun 15)

Post by BobStein-VisiBone » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:50 pm

Sounds so ... 1985.

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by geckzilla » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:59 pm

Bwoop!
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by starsurfer » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:09 pm

geckzilla wrote:Bwoop!
I imagine you with a Betty Boop pose as you say that? :? :D :lol2:

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by starsurfer » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:17 pm

Also this is an amazing result, worth the wait! Who knows what other radiation is out there waiting to be discovered. Lets's celebrate, this calls for a pizza!

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by neufer » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:45 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
starsurfer wrote:
geckzilla wrote:
Bwoop!
I imagine you with a Betty Boop pose as you say that? :? :D :lol2:
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Ann » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:09 pm

neufer wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
starsurfer wrote:
geckzilla wrote:
Bwoop!
I imagine you with a Betty Boop pose as you say that? :? :D :lol2:
I like Betty Boop, but I don't believe she emits any gravitational waves.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this new gravity wave detection!

Ann
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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Jyrki » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:10 pm

Ok. Presumably the chirp wave at the end marks the moment when the two black holes became one? Does there exist a theory / model explaining the general shape of this chirp? It would be nice to say that "this is what GR predicted the fusion of two black holes to sound like (on the GW spectrum) :)

I guess
This GW-emitting system is best fit by two merging black holes with initial masses of about 14 and 8 solar masses
means just that :?

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Fred the Cat » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:14 pm

Two black holes merging. That's not a good place to be at the wrong time. :(
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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:38 pm

So... can we build an Gravitational Wave Generator and make electricity from the motion of "The Strain"? Like with an Ocean Waves... Probably not a big wave by the time it gets to us.

Since it is an action, and has an Energy, an amount, an intensity, a frequency of wavelength, and thus a Load... that means this is Gravitational Charge... The Energy Load of that action... I work with Emotional Charge...and there are other Charges as well....

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:42 pm

Zen Astronomer, Grand Master:..."What is the sound of two black holes merging?....."

BwwuuuuiiiIIIPPP!

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Andyf

Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Andyf » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:03 pm

I wonder how long the signal was identifiable before the one second clip we've been given. At T minus 1s it is very clear and stable (in the presumably filtered audio) so I can't help but think there is a fair amount of discernible signal prior to the clip.

I also wonder what the background 'flame-effect' in the spectral plot was caused by. A truck on the New Jersey Turn-Pike? somebody walking down a corridor at LIGO? or the dance of massive distant objects?

Well done LIGO!

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by Craig Willford » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:06 pm

The previous posters needed to learn patience. I, for one, am very excited at the news of a second detection of gravity waves. I know that landing a human on the moon a second time is less exciting than the first but in the field of science, confirmation by repetition is crucial. I, for one, I'm very excited at the quick repeat of the detection of the merger of two black holes by the gravity waves they put out.

I'm a little puzzled by something though. The graph seems to show the frequency a little above 32 Hertz (maybe about 40 Hz) at the beginning. The tone I hear on the other hand sounds to me closer to middle C on the piano or maybe an octave below. I seem to recall middle C being a frequency of about 256 Hertz and an octave below then being 128 Hz. Am I wrong?

Also, I wish they had adopted a more robust naming convention. Rather than GW151226, which truncates the year to just the last two digits, I wish they had used the full year, such as GW20151226, so that there will be no need to revamp the naming convention a hundred years from now.

Craig Willford

andyf

Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by andyf » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:17 pm

Millennium bug all over again.

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Re: APOD: GW151226: A Second Confirmed Source ... (2016 Jun 15)

Post by bystander » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:20 pm

GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22 Solar-mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
LIGO Scientific Collaboration | 2016 Jun 15

Gravitational Waves Detected from Second Pair of Colliding Black Holes
Advanced Virgo Collaboration | 2016 Jun 15

LIGO Does It Again: A Second Robust Binary Black Hole Coalescence Observed
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory | 2016 Jun 15

For second time, LIGO detects gravitational waves
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2016 Jun 15

Gravitational Waves Detected from Second Pair of Colliding Black Holes
California Institute of Technology | 2016 Jun 15

Gravitational Waves Detected from Second Pair of Colliding Black Holes
University of Maryland | CMNS | 2016 Jun 15

Gravitational waves spotted again
National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) | 2016 Jun 15

LIGO Bags Another Black Hole Merger
Physics Focus | American Physical Society | 2016 Jun 15

GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
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