These Ripples In The Universe May Teach Us About its Origins

Well, experts have to make do with all the clues scattered around our waking world! Scientists have now found a way to use ripples in space-time to learn more about the universe. These ripples, also known as gravitational waves, will be used to look back to the beginning of time. 

While we really don’t have official data about space during that time, scientists still believe that they can understand the state of the cosmos after the Big Bang through the ripples, as they flow through planets and the gas between galaxies. "We can't see the early universe directly, but maybe we can see it indirectly if we look at how gravitational waves from that time have affected matter and radiation that we can observe today," said Deepen Garg, a graduate student in the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics.

Gravitational waves are disturbances in space-time thanks to the movement of very dense objects. They were first detected in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). Garg and his advisor, Ilya Dodin created formulas that could lead these ripples to telling hidden properties about celestial bodies, which then could lead other experts in the field to learn more about the events post the Big Bang. 

Image credit: Hristo Fidanov