"I am delighted. It is the critical next step to explore in detail the physics involved," Li said after being announced to have for the first time detected the ripples in space and time known as gravitational waves and light from a spectacular collision of two neutron stars.
"However, there is now much more work to be done. We still need more detection like this to prove the model," Li added.
In 2017, detectors from the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed the existence of gravitational waves produced during the merger of two black holes, predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity 100 years ago.
The detection marked the beginning of a new era in observational astronomy, yet no neutron stars had ever been known to have merged until this August.
GLITTERING PROSPECTS AT CHINA'S TELESCOPE
On Aug. 17, the gravitational waves signal, GW170817, was detected by LIGO's twin detectors, respectively located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.
The fifth detected source as it was, the source of gravitational waves was historical since a glowing aftermath of the collision of two neutron stars was visible by traditional telescopes.
The Chinese telescope independently observed optical signals resulting from the merger the next day, among some 70 telescopes on the ground or from space across the world.
"While many observatories contributed to the broad set of companion observations, the Chinese observatory, by having half a year of night per year is ideally suited to this challenging task," Gary Sanders, deputy director and project manager of LIGO in 1994-2004, told Xinhua.
【国内英语资讯:Spotlight: From theory prediction to bold observatory, Chinese researchers help usher in new】相关文章:
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