Scientists detected low-frequency gravitational waves moving through the galaxy for the first time by measuring tiny variations in radio signals from pulsar stars.
Notes on verification
Multiple independent pulsar timing array collaborations (NANOGrav, EPTA, PPTA, CPTA, InPTA) reported evidence for a nanohertz gravitational wave background in 2023, corroborated by peer-reviewed and institutional sources. However, statistical significance was only 2-4 sigma, below the conventional 5-sigma discovery threshold, so 'detected' slightly overstates the certainty compared to 'strong evidence found'. [tier=silver indep_score=0.983 clusters=3 claim_tier=exceptional]
Sources
- The 11 most astonishing scientific discoveries of 2023 (seed:science_and_space)
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-024-00711-6 (corroboration)
- https://www.aei.mpg.de/ptas (corroboration)
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.08966 (corroboration)