Pulsar Pair Ripples Spacetime

(Title from article)

New supportive evidence for the existence of gravitational waves!

A dancing duo of cosmic beacons has provided scientists with the most precise measurement, albeit an indirect one, of ripples in spacetime called gravitational waves.

Of course, the data so far isn't conclusive, yet is exactly as would be expected if the theory were correct.

The double pulsar system J0737-3039A, discovered in 2003, is an astrophysicist’s dream. By analyzing the radio beams, researchers can probe the wild things that happen when the small but massive celestial objects circle each other at roughly a million kilometers an hour. Under the rules of general relativity, the pulsars should plow through spacetime and generate ripples that carry away energy, leading the pulsars to gradually fall toward each other.

Using observations from several telescopes over more than a decade, Kramer and his team determined that the pulsars are approaching each other by 7.152 millimeters a day, give or take a micrometer. That’s exactly what theory predicts based on the mass and acceleration of the pulsars.

ScienceNews Link

From an article from back in 2012 describing just this method for detecting space-time ripples:

Pulsars are the ultimate celestial clocks, sending us super-regular “pulses” of radiation from space. But the arrival time of those beats depends on the distance between us. If a gravitational wave passes between us and a pulsar, the wave will slightly stretch the space between us and the spinning star, causing the distance to grow and shrink in an oscillating way. Those changes will make some pulses arrive a little earlier and others a little later than expected, says Sesana. The errant beats would be the fingerprint of a passing gravitational wave. - See more at: www.skyandtelescope.com...

Stay astonished!

A&E

originally posted by: ADAMandEVIL

Stay astonished!

OK. I'll bite. Why?

This was predicted several years ago.
The observations match the predictions,
therefore the prediction is confirmed.
Add a few weasel words in case they're wrong.

I'm not saying it's not interesting, but the fact that through science a prediction was made and confirmed through experiment is not in itself astonishing. In fact, you could say it was predictable.

I don't know, I still find myself not entirely convinced of gravity waves. It seems to me that if the mere act of moving through space was enough to give off gravity waves and lose energy then our solar system wouldn't remain stable for billions of years. The Earth must have an extremely stable orbit because it's been at basically the same distance from the sun for billions of years. Couldn't it be possible these pulsars are just spiraling in towards each other for some other reason related to their orbital configuration? Your second article is from 2012 which talks about essentially the same experiment as the first article, but the first article is from this year and claims to be more precise. How do we know these scientists haven't spent years looking for pulsar pairs which exhibit just the right numbers? I'm sorry but I cannot help but remain skeptical until we have more direct proof.

a reply to: schuyler

OK. I'll bite. Why?

You mean to say the ability to detect a precession of seven and a half millimetres at a distance of four thousand light-years doesn't astonish you?

Check your pulse, mate. Is it still there?

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
I don't know, I still find myself not entirely convinced of gravity waves. It seems to me that if the mere act of moving through space was enough to give off gravity waves and lose energy then our solar system wouldn't remain stable for billions of years. The Earth must have an extremely stable orbit because it's been at basically the same distance from the sun for billions of years.

And accelerations and velocities of Earth are relatively small compared to neutron stars. So the effect is negligible.

Couldn't it be possible these pulsars are just spiraling in towards each other for some other reason related to their orbital configuration?

And what would that be?

Remember, they get an extremely precise match, quantitatively, to the result from gravitationl radiation in Einstein general relativity. How would some other mechanism, give, by magic, the same result?

How do we know these scientists haven't spent years looking for pulsar pairs which exhibit just the right numbers? I

The lack of pulsar pairs observed which give wildly different numbers? If nearly all observed with good data quality match, what are the odds its blind luck?

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: ADAMandEVIL

Stay astonished!

but the fact that through science a prediction was made and confirmed through experiment is not in itself astonishing. In fact, you could say it was predictable.

I thought this was the very definition of science really.