Some known noise sources could be ruled out to understand the sound but they needed more data to determine if it was indeed from gravitational waves.
In an exciting news for space enthusiasts, scientists have detected what could be the resonant hum or the gravitational wave background of the Universe. This will be the first time that this 'hum' would have been heard.
According to the findings published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the sound was detected by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav).
"It is incredibly exciting to see such a strong signal emerge from the data," said Joseph Simon, who is the lead researcher on the paper.
Simon explained that they could rule out some known noise sources to understand the noise but they needed more data to determine whether it was indeed from gravitational waves.
"However, because the gravitational-wave signal we are searching for spans the entire duration of our observations, we need to carefully understand our noise. This leaves us in a very interesting place, where we can strongly rule out some known noise sources, but we cannot yet say whether the signal is indeed from gravitational waves. For that, we will need more data," said Simon.
It is to be noted that the NANOgrav has been studying signals from the Universe's timekeepers, meaning from the distant pulsars . It emits radio waves and collects data that may help in probing the effects of gravitational waves.
It works to detect even minute changes in the position of the Earth due to gravitational waves stretching and shrinking space-time. How it does that is by studying the timing of regular signals from different pulsars spread everywhere in the sky at the same time called pulsar timing array.
A collaboration of astrophysicists from the United States and Canada and National Science Foundation Physics Frontiers Center (PFC), NANOgrav was building towards this detection since a decade.
The NSF Program Director for gravitational physics, Pedro Marronetti, said, “NANOGrav has been building to the first detection of low-frequency gravitational waves for over a decade and today’s announcement shows that they are on track to achieving this goal.”
"The insights that we will gain on cosmology and galaxy formation are truly unparalleled," he added.
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