Strange waves spotted in depths of space could finally confirm answer to major universe mystery

SCIENTISTS could one day pinpoint the beginning of time by observing ripples in the space-time fabric, a new report has revealed.

Using the propagation of electromagnetic waves, two physicists came up with a set of equations that could help us look at the early universe.

Put simply, their equations could help us to identify gravitational waves that travel through space.

"We can't see the early universe directly, but maybe we can see it indirectly if we look at how gravitational waves from that time have affected matter and radiation that we can observe today," says physicist Deepen Garg of Princeton University.

Gravitational waves, first predicted by Albert Einstein, comprise invisible ripples in the fabric of space.

They are created when objects move at very high speeds, like when a star explodes or when two black holes collide.

Another cause for gravitational waves is the expansion of the universe, which happened less than a second after the Big Bang, per Science Alert.

And by using plasma physics and a number of lasers and mirrors, scientists may be able to figure out the characteristics of a gravitational wave's origin.

By doing this, and later on, identifying ripples in the time-space continuum, scientists may be able to figure out when time began.

"We basically put plasma wave machinery to work on a gravitational wave problem," Garg said.

This may also help researchers better understand black holes, dark matter, and theoretical subatomic particles called axions.

The team published their findings in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

Gravitational Waves

Typically, gravitational waves are undetectable by scientists, however, scientists were able to observe one in 2015.

They used a very sensitive instrument called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).

Those gravitational waves happened when two black holes crashed into one another around 1.3 billion years ago.

Since then, gravitational waves have only been spotted around 50 times, per Science News.