Gravitational waves

I am sitting here at home on a snowy President's Day morning, waiting for our new refrigerator to arrive, and I started thinking about the recent gravitational wave discovery and what that means. Even after having several days to let the discovery sink in, I am still coming to grips with it.

(To add a side comment, this has already been an incredible year to teach astronomy for the first time. We've had the Pluto flyby, eclipses, exoplanet discoveries, possibly another planet discovery and now LIGO's announcement.)

Very simply, the discovery of gravitational waves opens up an entire new realm of astronomy. Astronomers use every wavelength available (radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X Ray and gamma ray) and use a range of methods to gather information from them. (They also use cosmic rays and neutrinos now that I think about it.) 

One of the best ways to learn more about an object is to compare it in multiple frequencies. Now they use gravity as a tool as well.

Much has been made about the double black hole merger that LIGO described in their big announcement. ANY rearrangement of matter would also lead to these waves. Supernovae, colliding stars and who knows what else is colliding and rearranging out there in the universe.

It is a higher leap forward for astronomy and for science as well.