What the discovery of gravitational waves means [#astronomy #video]

1.3 billion years ago, in a distant, distant galaxy, two black holes locked into a spiral, falling inexorably towards each other and collided, converting three Suns' worth of stuff into pure energy in a tenth of a second.
Two black holes, the densest thing in the Universe, one with a mass of 29 Suns and one with a mass of 36 Suns, whirling around each other 100 times per second before they collide. Just imagine the power of that. It's fantastic. And we know it because we heard it.

I don't know if you got excited as I did when the announcement came of the discovery of gravitational waves (probably not). Anyway, if it interested you even a little bit, try watching this awesome Ted Talk by Allan Adams that explains why it's such a big and promising discovery.

Non so se vi siete emozionati com'è successo a me quando è arrivato l'annuncio della scoperta delle onde gravitazionali (probabilmente no). Comunque, se interessati almeno un pochino, provate a guardare questa bellissima Ted Talk di Allan Adams che spiega perché si tratta di un scoperta così importante e promettente.