Researchers may have observed sources of gravitational waves cosmic neutrinos

High energy neutrinos may be shot out of the barrel of a black hole. (credit: NASA)

Over the last few years, we've witnessed the start of two radically new ways of doing astronomy. For all of human history, everything we've learned about the cosmos has come from observing photons, from high-energy gamma rays down to the cosmic microwave background. But since the opening of the IceCube observatory at the South Pole, we've been able to track ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrinos. And earlier this year, the updated LIGO detector spotted gravitational waves, ushering in the ability to observe ripples in space itself.

While neutrinos and gravitational waves are a very different means of looking at the cosmos, the data that they generate has to be integrated with everything we've already learned about the Universe. In other words, when we spot the neutrinos or gravitational waves, it would be helpful to observe photons associated with whatever event is producing them. That will help us integrate the new information with things we already know about and come to grips with anything we don't know about.

This week, possible successes were announced, as people identified a likely source of cosmic neutrinos, as well as a possible detection of a gravitational-wave-generating event using more traditional astronomy.

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