To help distinguish a real signal from the noise you need to know what a real signal might look like. That means you need to use general relativity to create models of things such as binary black holes.
Edge Effect
While there is lots of evidence showing black holes exist, we’d really like to observe them more directly.
The Man Behind The Curtain
Black Holes are where God divided by zero, so the saying goes.
How Close Is Too Close?
What would happen if two black holes merged near our solar system? While the real answer is complex, we can do a back of the envelope calculation.
Brightening The Cosmic Background
When the jets of a black hole interact with the cosmic microwave background, something brilliant can occur.
Direct Detection Of Gravitational Waves
In the history of human civilization humans looked up at the sky and saw light. Now we can listen to the very fabric of space and time.
Watching A Black Hole From Your Back Yard
It is possible to observe a black hole from the comfort of your back yard.
A Black Hole With Flare
Much of the light we observe from the region around a black hole is in the form of x-rays. Occasionally these x-rays will briefly flare up.
Black Holes: Now Available in Medium
Observationally we know that black holes come in two sizes: stellar mass black holes with a mass of 5 – 10 Suns, and supermassive black holes with a mass of millions or billions of Suns. What we haven’t seen are medium sized black holes with masses of hundreds to thousands of Suns. We’ve long suspected they should exist, but proving it has been difficult. Now there’s strong evidence that these medium-sized black holes actually exist.