The discovery of gravitational waves has been hailed as a breakthrough. But,er – what are they? Astrophysicist Katie Mack breaks it down in genuine-time 3.59am GMTFolks, we’re going to call it a day now. But don’t forget that if you are awake at 01.00 AEDT (14.00 GMT), or then CERN physicist Jon Butterworth will be here,trying to answer all your questions again!What a day! Katie Mack did an improbable job explaining the ins and outs of what she described as a bigger discovery than the Higgs boson. She reassured us that gravitational waves weren’t going to wound anyone and that – coincidence or not – there was definitely no conspiracy behind the discovery. Related: Gravitational waves: breakthrough discovery after two centuries of expectation 3.28am GMTOne commenter asked:Assuming conservation of energy, what is 'lost' when a body emits gravitational waves? Is a body losing mass to emit the gravitational wave energy? Or does this phenonimina only apply to bodies orbiting one another which lose orbital angular momentum as they emit gravitational waves and so spiral in to another in a form of orbital decay?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com