On March 2, 2023 at LSC After Dark, Liberty Science Center hosted Dr. Marc Favata from Montclair State University for our latest Space Talk, “Cosmic Clues from Gravitational Waves.”

When we think about studying space and the cosmos, we often think of beautiful images of distant galaxies and stars. But in recent years, a new way of studying the universe has emerged – gravitational waves.

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space itself, caused by the rapid movements of extremely dense objects like neutron stars and black holes. Dr. Favata’s work involves measuring these gravitational waves to better understand these dense objects, as well as gravity itself.

During his Space Talk, Dr. Favata showed us the observatories used to make these measurements – the revolutionary LIGO observatories. Instead of measuring light like most observatories, LIGO measures gravitational waves, which can actually be turned into sounds! In the planetarium, guests were able to hear the sounds of gravitational waves made by the collisions of black holes billions of light-years away.

Below, check out the full presentation in 360 degrees:

Join us next month, on April 6, for our next Space Talk featuring Dr. Adrian Price-Whelan from the Flatiron Institute who will explore the ways invisible forces shape galaxies like ours. Click here to learn more and reserve your tickets now.

Dr. Marc Favata,  Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium,  LSC After Dark,  Montclair State University,  space,  Space Talk