Astronomy
The Multimessenger Approach: Gravitational Waves and Electromagnetic Counterparts
Quick fact
In August 2017, astronomers detected gravitational waves from a neutron star merger (GW170817) and then, just 1.7 seconds later, saw a burst of gamma rays from the same location—the first time a cosmic event was observed in both gravitational waves and light.
Why this is interesting
You probably know that observatories detect light from the universe—but what if I told you there are ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself that can be detected on Earth? How do we 'see' the universe in a completely new way?