Neutron Stars, Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity made a remarkable prediction: gravitational radiation. Just like light, gravity could travel through space as a wave and affect any objects it encounters by alternately compressing and expanding them. However, these waves were so difficult to detect that astronomers didn’t even try for more than 50 years. Then, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, two events occurred that started the hunt for gravity waves in earnest. Though the first was ultimat...