Detection method
Pulsar Timing Array
Using an array of millisecond pulsars — nature's most precise clocks — as a galaxy-sized gravitational-wave detector. A passing nanohertz gravitational wave subtly shifts the arrival times of the pulsars' pulses in a correlated way; timing arrays have found evidence for a background of such waves from supermassive black-hole binaries.
Highlights
- ›A gravitational-wave detector the size of the galaxy
Detectors, messengers & sources
Knowledge connections
- Associated withGravitational-Wave Detection
- Associated withPulsar
- Associated withMillisecond Pulsar
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.