Gravitational Waves: The story in photos

In an announcement that electrified the world of astronomy, scientists said Thursday that they have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Albert Einstein predicted a century ago. Some scientists likened the breakthrough to the moment Galileo took up a telescope to look at the planets. A visual of gravitational waves from two converging black holes is depicted on a monitor behind Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Co-Founder Kip Thorne speaks as it is announced that scientists have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. The announcement has electrified the world of astronomy, and some have likened the breakthrough to the moment Galileo took up a telescope to look at the planets. Read more here (Source: Photo by AP)

An all-star international team of astrophysicists (including from India) used a newly upgraded and excruciatingly sensitive $1.1 billion instrument known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, to detect a gravitational wave from the distant crash of two black holes, one of the ways these ripples are created. Read more here (Source: Photo by AP)

A partial view of "Virgo", 3-km long interferometer antenna for gravitational waves detection located at Cascina, near Pisa, Italy, which, working together with the American "Ligo", allowed to detect the waves created by the violent collisions of two black holes. Gravitational waves, first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916 as part of his theory of general relativity, are extraordinarily faint ripples in space-time, the hard-to-fathom fourth dimension that combines time with the familiar up, down, left and right. Read more here (Source: Photo by AP)

The original historical documents related to Albert Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves are seen at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem. Read more here (Source: Photo by AP)

Audience members look at monitors displaying detected data which scientists say is proof of gravitational ripples. Read more here (Source: Photo by AP)

Hebrew University's Roni Gross holds the original historical documents related to Albert Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem. Read more here (Source: Photo by AP)