Antonio Enea Romano

Two black holes spiral faster and faster until they merge into one. This dance shakes space itself: waves ripple outward from the collision site, like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond. Sometimes the merger also produces a flash of light.

When two dead stars collide in a distant galaxy, two messengers bring us the news: a shiver in space, a gravitational wave, and a flash of light. Both messengers race toward us across the entire Universe, but their paths can differ slightly. Light sometimes gets delayed by cosmic dust, while gravitational waves pass through everything almost without noticing obstacles.