Firing lasers at the Moon to detect early-universe gravitational waves

Gravitational waves can bump the moon by a thousandth the width of a proton.

I think we can detect the first five or six, not sure how many light years?

Mergers high bumps to low bumps.

Supermassive black hole to supermassive black hole.
Intermediate black hole to Intermediate black hole.
Low mass black hole to low mass black hole.
Neutron star to black hole.
Neutron star to neutron star.
Star to BH.
Star to neutron star.
Intermediate star to large star
Star to intermediate star
Star to star.
Brown dwarf to BH.
Brown dwarf to star.
Brown dwarf to brown dwarf.
Gas giant to BH.
Gas giant to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Super ice planet.
Super Earth To super ice planet.
Super Earth to super earth.
Earth to earth.
Planetoid to Earth.
Asteroid to Earth.
Planetoid to Planetoid.
Moon to planetoid
Moon to moon.
Asteroid to planetoid.
Asteroid to moon.
Asteroid to asteroid.
Rock to asteroid.

left out one.

Supermassive black hole to supermassive black hole.
Intermediate black hole to Intermediate black hole.
Low mass black hole to low mass black hole.
Neutron star to black hole.
Neutron star to neutron star.
Star to BH.
Star to neutron star.
Large star to large star.
Intermediate star to large star
Star to intermediate star
Star to star.
Brown dwarf to BH.
Brown dwarf to star.
Brown dwarf to brown dwarf.
Gas giant to BH.
Gas giant to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Super ice planet.
Super Earth To super ice planet.
Super Earth to super earth.
Earth to earth.
Planetoid to Earth.
Asteroid to Earth.
Planetoid to Planetoid.
Moon to planetoid
Moon to moon.
Asteroid to planetoid.
Asteroid to moon.
Asteroid to asteroid.
Rock to asteroid.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Firing lasers at the Moon to detect early-universe gravitational waves

Gravitational waves can bump the moon by a thousandth the width of a proton.

I think we can detect the first five or six, not sure how many light years?

Mergers high bumps to low bumps.

Supermassive black hole to supermassive black hole.
Intermediate black hole to Intermediate black hole.
Low mass black hole to low mass black hole.
Neutron star to black hole.
Neutron star to neutron star.
Star to BH.
Star to neutron star.
Intermediate star to large star
Star to intermediate star
Star to star.
Brown dwarf to BH.
Brown dwarf to star.
Brown dwarf to brown dwarf.
Gas giant to BH.
Gas giant to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Super ice planet.
Super Earth To super ice planet.
Super Earth to super earth.
Earth to earth.
Planetoid to Earth.
Asteroid to Earth.
Planetoid to Planetoid.
Moon to planetoid
Moon to moon.
Asteroid to planetoid.
Asteroid to moon.
Asteroid to asteroid.
Rock to asteroid.

A nice scale of bumps. I wouldn’t change a thing on that list.

Yes, I think we can detect the first five on that list.

The sixth, star to black hole, has the problem that they interact at long distances. A star is pretty diffuse, with a radius near 0.5 million km. Whereas a neutron star has a radius near 10 km. Gravitational wave strength goes as the square of the distance. So the gravitational waves from a star + BH merger would be about 6 billion times as weak as from a neutron star + neutron star merger.

As for distance – checks web – Nearest source was 40+-10 megaparsecs. GW170817. This was also the first observed neutron star + neutron star merger.
By comparison, the Andromeda galaxy is 0.89 megaparsecs away.

Furthest confirmed NS + NS merger seen is 160+-70 megaparsecs away.

Furthest confirmed BH + BH merger is 5300+-2500 megaparsecs away. So as expected these can be seen at much greater distances than NS + NS.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravitational_wave_observations

surely Mannesmann Vodafone Airtouch plc has to be up there, though we hear that AT&T done some big ones too

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Firing lasers at the Moon to detect early-universe gravitational waves

Gravitational waves can bump the moon by a thousandth the width of a proton.

I think we can detect the first five or six, not sure how many light years?

Mergers high bumps to low bumps.

Supermassive black hole to supermassive black hole.
Intermediate black hole to Intermediate black hole.
Low mass black hole to low mass black hole.
Neutron star to black hole.
Neutron star to neutron star.
Star to BH.
Star to neutron star.
Intermediate star to large star
Star to intermediate star
Star to star.
Brown dwarf to BH.
Brown dwarf to star.
Brown dwarf to brown dwarf.
Gas giant to BH.
Gas giant to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Gas giant.
Super ice planet to Super ice planet.
Super Earth To super ice planet.
Super Earth to super earth.
Earth to earth.
Planetoid to Earth.
Asteroid to Earth.
Planetoid to Planetoid.
Moon to planetoid
Moon to moon.
Asteroid to planetoid.
Asteroid to moon.
Asteroid to asteroid.
Rock to asteroid.

A nice scale of bumps. I wouldn’t change a thing on that list.

Yes, I think we can detect the first five on that list.

The sixth, star to black hole, has the problem that they interact at long distances. A star is pretty diffuse, with a radius near 0.5 million km. Whereas a neutron star has a radius near 10 km. Gravitational wave strength goes as the square of the distance. So the gravitational waves from a star + BH merger would be about 6 billion times as weak as from a neutron star + neutron star merger.

As for distance – checks web – Nearest source was 40+-10 megaparsecs. GW170817. This was also the first observed neutron star + neutron star merger.
By comparison, the Andromeda galaxy is 0.89 megaparsecs away.

Furthest confirmed NS + NS merger seen is 160+-70 megaparsecs away.

Furthest confirmed BH + BH merger is 5300+-2500 megaparsecs away. So as expected these can be seen at much greater distances than NS + NS.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravitational_wave_observations

Thanks for those distances.