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Originally Posted by jfribrg
I thought that gravitational waves have never been detected, which Gravity Probe B was supposed to remedy.
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From the article (I hope fair use?):
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Originally Posted by Sky and Telescope
General relativity predicts that two stars orbiting so closely will throw off gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time generated by the motions of massive objects. By doing so, they will lose orbital energy and inch closer together. Radio observations from Australia, Germany, England, and the United States show that the system is doing exactly what Einstein's theory predicts. "The orbit shrinks by 7 millimeters per day, which is in accordance with general relativity," says Michael Kramer (University of Manchester, England), a member of the observing team.
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So it's maybe an indirect test, and not actually seeing the wave come by?
Which LIGO would do.
I don't know if the physics relating orbital shrinking to gravity waves leaves no room for alternative explanations, but I can think of one:
A giant cat sits outside the orbit and swats the pulsars with its front paw each time... oops, should take this to ATM.
:wink: