Science Porn

[Anomalocaris]

Here's light curve for current event occurring with Tabby's star !!!

WOW !!!!


So far, and no guaranty it will continue, but the current dimming event seems to be REPEATING THE LIGHT CURVE from a prior event seen by Kepler !!!!!!!!!!!


This is potentially a significant finding.  They can work out an orbital period from a repeat event  and that will constrain some of the ideas for explaining just WTF is going on at Tabby's star !!!

Any updates?

[vorlon13]

WOW !!!!


So far, and no guaranty it will continue, but the current dimming event seems to be REPEATING THE LIGHT CURVE from a prior event seen by Kepler !!!!!!!!!!!


This is potentially a significant finding.  They can work out an orbital period from a repeat event  and that will constrain some of the ideas for explaining just WTF is going on at Tabby's star !!!

Any updates?

I'm aware waiting is difficult on such a fun and mysterious matter.  I check a special site a couple times a day for updates.  I generally put them here petty quick.


Additionally, not bragging btw, but the updates I've posted have preceded just about any other venue disseminating such information (except for the site itself where I find them) so you're doing pretty good here.

Unfortunately, I cannot vouch for that site maintaining it's connections inside some of these fantastic research programs indefinitely.  It's just a message board.  A really good one, it seems, but things can happen.

Sigh . . .

[vorlon13]

WOW !!

A third black hole merger detected with LIGO !!

BH #1 31.2 solar masses
BH #2 19.4 solar masses

resulting combined BH 48.7 solar masses

energy radiated away as gravitational waves 2 solar masses

distance 2.9 billion light years

possibility exists one BH was spinning 'backwards' relative to it's premerger orbit and the other BH, more samples of such mergers needed for study. Theoretical work suggests contra-rotation might indicate BHs were in a star cluster and not in a stellar binary as stellar binary progenitors would have correlated spins.

[vorlon13]

BTW, the LIGO detects gravitational radiation by exquisitely measuring differences in distance equivalent to a very tiny fraction the diameter of a proton.


So, our weird vorlon science question of the day:

gravitational waves propogate thru space/time actually, so instead of a detector based on geometry (differences in length are measured) is a detector based on measuring differences in time feasible ??

I'm thinking a large tetrahedron shaped constellation of satellites in deep space, with a very precise atomic clock in each of the 4 vertices, all relaying time signals to another satellite in the center of the tetrahedron, with it's own reference atomic clock.

Once all the clocks are sync'd up, passing waves of gravitational energy will selectively desync the clocks as it passes thru the tetrahedron, and by analysis of how the small differences in the rate of time passage in each of the 4 outer satellites compare to each other and the central clock, the direction and magnitude of the wave could be ascertained.



IOW, can we build better clocks than rulers ???

[Fireball]

So, are you asking for a frequency difference of arrival VS a time difference of arrival solution for this?

[vorlon13]

I'm wondering if the differences in the rate of time passing by for 4 widely separated atomic clocks caused by a gravitational wave passing by them could be detected. Depending on where the wave(s) originated, it would impinge on the 4 clocks at different times, so they would briefly and sequentially go out of sync as the wave passed each clock and affected each one in turn by changing the rate at which time passed.

[vorlon13]

If I noodled out the math correctly, all the galaxies Edwin Hubble was able to study were within 100,000,000 light years of earth (due to limitations of the equipment and film available in his era) and this was before 1930.

Less than 100 years later, LIGO has detected a black hole merger 2,900,000,000 light years away. The volume of space out to 2.9 billion light years, compared to the volume of space out to 'only' 100 million light years is a factor of 25,000 times greater.

And the black hole merger wasn't just detected, we know their combined mass is nearly 50 times that of our sun !!

[Alex K]

@vorlon

I don't know about clocks, but have you read about the pulsar timing method for detecting gravitational waves?

[vorlon13]

thanx for the heads up.

went and read the wiki on it.


And another item:

there might be 6 (!) more gravitational wave detections being analyzed from the LIGO detector now

[Anomalocaris]

I'm wondering if the differences in the rate of time passing by for 4 widely separated atomic clocks caused by a gravitational wave passing by them could be detected.  Depending on where the wave(s) originated, it would impinge on the 4 clocks at different times, so they would briefly and sequentially go out of sync as the wave passed each clock and affected each one in turn by changing  the rate at which time passed.

Perhaps gravity waves will register as a predictable pattern of spurious movements by stationary gps devices as the wave passes the satellites and momentarily distort the clock and timing signal of each in turn as it passes. Although the GPS device would probably have to have the ability to resolve spatial position with time granularity on the order of milliseconds as any gravity wave would sweep over the entire satellite constellation in ~1/10 of second.