Gravitational Wave

  • Released Thursday, April 28, 2022
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Two black holes orbit around each other and generate space-time ripples called gravitational waves in this animation. As the black holes get closer, the waves increase in frequency. Eventually, the event horizons merge into a peanut-shaped object, generating one very high-frequency wave. Within a rotation, the black holes merge completely. One lower-frequency wave, called the ring down, ripples out after the merger.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

A short, loopable segment of the above.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Credits

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

This page was originally published on Thursday, April 28, 2022.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 11:44 AM EDT.