• Black holes blend
April 18: MSNBC science editor Alan Boyle narrates a supercomputer simulation of two black holes colliding.
MSNBC / NASA
Space.com
Updated: 3:32 p.m. ET April 18, 2006
The types of black hole mergers predicted by general relativity have been accurately simulated in a computer model for the first time.
The new three-dimensional model provides a direct test of Albert Einstein's theory and could guide the hunt for gravitational waves, one of the most elusive and sought-after forms of energy in the universe.
"In the past, we've always shown animations or artists' conceptions of gravitational waves, but now we have Einstein's conception," said Joan Centralla, head of the Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a member of the team that created the model.
