Black hole swallowed a neutron star? Scientists feel ripples on Earth

Dis Earth felt a ripple last week? What was it? While asteroids have been flying by, scientists have revealed it had been some event from the past. Precisely - A black hole swallowing a neutron star.

According to international reports, scientists have observed a  ripple in space-time that passed through Earth on August due to a catastrophic cosmic event. The event was observed at the advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and Virgo, situated in Italy. Scientists speculate that the cosmic event may have occurred about 900 million years ago, as per reports. They have also said that after initial investigation the earth-ripple may have been caused by the merger of a black hole and a neutron star.

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What can scientists confirm?

While the cosmic event's time and nature could only be speculated, scientists have confirmed certain observations. First, the signal detected by LIGO and Virgo is a gravitational-wave, has been confirmed according to a science news website. Speaking to reporters, Physicist Christopher Berry has said that the team has temporarily labelled the object observed as S190814bv. He further states, " It  looks like this could potentially be a neutron star-black hole binary."

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Black holes and gravity

The gravitational waves which Berry talks about had been confirmed by LIGO in 2015. Their existence had been predicted by Albert Einstein, a hundred years prior to it. Recently, scientists ruled out Newton's law of gravity due to incapability to be applied in a black hole. The team doing a comprehensive test of general relativity in a black hole also revealed impending disapproval of Einstein's theory of general relativity.

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What is a neutron star-black hole binary?

By definition, these binary systems consist of a neutron star and a black hole. In this system,  the black hole would eat or potentially swallow the neutron star as a whole. Scientists have as of now only proved the existence of binary systems with two black holes or two neutron stars. Currently, there has been no confirmed detection of a black hole-neutron star system.

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