Black Holes - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

1)   Scientists have identified the merger of which cosmic components using gravitational waves?

a. Black holes
b. White Dwarfs
c. Red Dwarfs
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Black holes

Explanation:
A team of international scientists have identified the merger of two black holes yet again - just three months after their first detection, researchers announced on June 15, 2016.

  • Scientists detected the cataclysmic black hole merger -- a phenomenon Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of relativity a century ago - by spotting gravitational waves, using an advanced detector known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO instrument.
  • Black holes form in the final stage of most massive stars' evolution. The space bodies are so dense that neither light nor matter can escape them.
  • Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space time permitting scientists to detect when black holes merge
  • The first detection of waves in September 2015 was announced in February 2016, in a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy following decades of efforts
  • Researchers announced waves a second time in December produced by black hole collision
  • Mysteries which have to be explained include how do such black hole systems form.