Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Guest Speaker: Dr. William Lamb, PhD Candidate, Vanderbilt University
In this talk, William talks about unlocking some cosmic mysteries using the NANOGrav Pulsar Timing Array Experiment. These mysteries involve binary black holes and how they interact with each other. To study these binary systems, Mr. Lamb studies the gravity waves that they produce. Gravitational waves come in different wavelengths, and based on their spectrum, different detectors need to be used. Thus, LIGO is used to study compact binary inspirals that produce high-frequency waves where, over time, the two black holes merge. On the other hand, NANOGrav is used to discover low-frequency gravity waves where the black holes in the binary system are very far apart. The expectation is that there are many more of these low-frequency-producing binary systems. NANOGrav uses pulsar timings to detect these low-frequency gravitational waves. Thus, contrary to LIGO which is an earth-based detector to detect waves that are 1-2 kilometers in wavelength, NANOGrav is a universe-size detector to detect gravitational waves that are several light years in wavelength.
This video will help you understand how astronomers use pulsar timings to detect low-frequency gravitational waves. We hope you enjoy it!
Learn more about NANOGrav. nanograv.org
Learn more about iTelescope itelescope.net
0:00 Introduction
3:09 Overview of Presentation
3:29 What is gravity?
4:11 What are Black holes?
7:02 Supermassive Blackhole Binaries
7:58 Gravitational Waves
14:20 Poll Question #1
17:45 Poll Question #2
18:38 What are Pulsars?
20:53 Using pulsars to detect gravitational waves
21:13 Poll question #3
23:23 What are pulsar timing arrays?
27:10 What is NANOGrav ?
29:49 Why is this important?
44:22 The future of pulsar timing arrays
#iTelescope
#astrophotography
#deepsky
#astro
#astronomy
#cosmology
Guest Speaker: Dr. William Lamb, PhD Candidate, Vanderbilt University
In this talk, William talks about unlocking some cosmic mysteries using the NANOGrav Pulsar Timing Array Experiment. These mysteries involve binary black holes and how they interact with each other. To study these binary systems, Mr. Lamb studies the gravity waves that they produce. Gravitational waves come in different wavelengths, and based on their spectrum, different detectors need to be used. Thus, LIGO is used to study compact binary inspirals that produce high-frequency waves where, over time, the two black holes merge. On the other hand, NANOGrav is used to discover low-frequency gravity waves where the black holes in the binary system are very far apart. The expectation is that there are many more of these low-frequency-producing binary systems. NANOGrav uses pulsar timings to detect these low-frequency gravitational waves. Thus, contrary to LIGO which is an earth-based detector to detect waves that are 1-2 kilometers in wavelength, NANOGrav is a universe-size detector to detect gravitational waves that are several light years in wavelength.
This video will help you understand how astronomers use pulsar timings to detect low-frequency gravitational waves. We hope you enjoy it!
Learn more about NANOGrav. nanograv.org
Learn more about iTelescope itelescope.net
0:00 Introduction
3:09 Overview of Presentation
3:29 What is gravity?
4:11 What are Black holes?
7:02 Supermassive Blackhole Binaries
7:58 Gravitational Waves
14:20 Poll Question #1
17:45 Poll Question #2
18:38 What are Pulsars?
20:53 Using pulsars to detect gravitational waves
21:13 Poll question #3
23:23 What are pulsar timing arrays?
27:10 What is NANOGrav ?
29:49 Why is this important?
44:22 The future of pulsar timing arrays
#iTelescope
#astrophotography
#deepsky
#astro
#astronomy
#cosmology
