This is not something made up, like in a science-fiction movie. We have confidence that these results are the real deal, that we have the true gravitational fingerprint predicted by Einstein for the black hole merger.

For years we didn't know what to expect.

This merger is a cataclysmic event, second only to the Big Bang in the amount of energy it produces.

These mergers are by far the most powerful events occurring in the universe, with each one generating more energy than all of the stars in the universe combined. Now we have realistic simulations to guide gravitational wave detectors coming online.

I want to be the Cecil B. DeMille of science fiction.

Tally smiled. At least she was causing trouble to the end. "I'm Tally Youngblood," she said. "make me pretty.