SciTech

Kilonava observation marks the dawn of Multi-Messenger Astronomy

“There are rare occasions when a scientist has the chance to witness a new era at its beginning,”

In October 2017, following the observation of gamma-ray bursts, visible light, and gravitational waves, all from the same event (a ‘kilonova’, the merging of two incredibly dense neutron stars), several papers were published in the journal Nature and elsewhere outlining

SciTech

European Southern Observatory scheduled to make mystery announcement following Ireland’s plans to join in 2018

An increase in the budget for innovation in 2018 will finally allow Ireland to become a member of the 16-nation organisation

Spoiler alert: the mystery announcement is completely unrelated to Ireland’s joining the European Southern Observatory (ESO), but is nonetheless very exciting, featuring something never-before-seen, according to Observatory.

This announcement will now be of particular interest to Irish astrophysicists, as an

SciTech

Gravitational Waves Could Be Detected This Year

Katarzyna discusses what gravitational waves are, the rumours from the LIGO project and the importance of gravitational waves in the study of the objects that generate them.

SCITECH

Origin of Gravitational Waves

When Einstein was formulating the general theory of relativity, he considered this simple question: ‘If the Sun suddenly disappeared right now, when would we found out about it on Earth?’ To understand why this is an