Astronomy
The Gravitational Wave Signatures of Merging Black Holes
Quick fact
The first detected gravitational wave, GW150914, was produced by the merger of two black holes about 1.3 billion light-years away, and the signal's frequency swept from 35 Hz to 250 Hz in just 0.2 seconds, releasing energy equivalent to three solar masses.
Why this is interesting
When two black holes collide, they send ripples through the fabric of the universe itself—yet these ripples are smaller than a proton. How do we even know they're real?