Exploring the Gravitational Waves from Dying Star Cocoons.

Northwestern University researchers suggest that the cocoons of debris surrounding dying massive stars could be a new source of gravitational waves. Using state-of-the-art simulations, the researchers have shown that these cocoons can emit gravitational waves, which should be within the frequency band that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can detect. Astrophysicists have so far only detected gravitational waves from binary systems, but the researchers believe that cocoons are one of the first places to look for non-binary sources of gravitational waves.