GW150914

GW150914 was the first direct observation of gravitational waves and was made on September 14 2015 and announced on February 11 2016.^[1] The waves were caused by the merger of two black holes. The waveform detected by both of the LIGO observatories matched the predictions of general relativity. The black holes measured around 36 and 29 solar masses. Efforts to prove that gravitational waves even existed had been ongoing for over fifty years to the point that Albert Einstein himself didn't think they would ever be detected.^[2] The event confirmed the last remaining directly undetected prediction of general relativity and especially in the context of large scale events.^[3] The amount of energy released from the event was 50 times greater than the combined power of all the light from the stars in the observable universe.^[4]