Gravitational waves are making a splash in the news these days, and Chinese scientists are in the thick of it. By using China’s FAST radio telescope, the world’s largest, researchers have been able to detect evidence of low-frequency gravitational waves, a low-pitch hum likely to yield insights into mysterious cosmic activities billions of light years away, from ancient galaxies when the universe was still young. Located in Guizhou, it technically stands for the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope.

Teams of astronomers from India, Europe, the United States, Australia and China were assigned different distant segments of the universe, and they have managed to track new evidence or provide new analyses of previous data to show the likely existence of low-frequency waves. These can offer tantalising clues into how early galaxies merged and formed ever larger systems of stars, dust and planets that eventually settled into the cosmic structures we observe in the universe today. The collaborative efforts have been especially impressive, given the rising geopolitical tensions between the nations involved. There is surely hope for humanity that while politicians bicker and threaten each other, scientists jointly peer into their telescopes and share data to uncover the secrets of the universe.

Chinese team finds key evidence for low-frequency gravitational waves

Each national team shared data and then published their own independently. The Chinese group spent more than three years tracking 57 neutron stars known as pulsars in the Milky Way to catch the gravitational waves, which are tiny ripples in space-time.