IIT-Bombay astronomers hunt for light from biggest explosions in space
A team of scientists at IIT-Bombay is searching the skies for a rare cosmic phenomenon — flashes of light that might come from the collision of black holes and neutron stars.These explosions are among the most violent events in the universe, and the team hopes to find clues that could change how we understand space.The project is led by Professor Varun Bhalerao from the Physics Department at IIT-B. His team is exploring whether black holes, which are known for pulling in everything around them including light, can also emit light when they collide — a mystery yet to be solved.advertisement
When massive objects like black holes or neutron stars crash into each other, they create gravitational waves — ripples in space and time, first predicted by Albert Einstein. While detectors like LIGO in the US, Virgo in Europe, and KAGRA in Japan can pick up these waves, spotting light from such events is far harder.Since 2017, scientists have only seen light and gravitational waves together from one kind of event: the merger of two neutron stars. No light has yet been seen from crashes involving black holes alone.To investigate further, IIT-B's researchers used India's space telescope AstroSat. Its CZTI instrument looked for X-rays that might have flashed within seconds of about 70 known gravitational wave events. These included black hole collisions up to 32 billion light-years away.So far, the team hasn't spotted any flashes. But even these 'misses' help — they allow scientists to set limits on how bright such explosions might be, which sharpens future predictions.advertisement'The universe is the most extreme physics laboratory,' said Prof. Bhalerao. 'Looking for light from black hole collisions challenges what we think we know — and could lead to surprises.'With the upcoming LIGO India facility and India's proposed Daksha mission, designed to scan the whole sky for such flashes, scientists are hopeful.As the current global gravitational wave search continues until late 2025, more data may finally shed light on these dark cosmic events.
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