Throughout 2016 and 2017,

news spread across the world about the detection of gravitational waves caused by the collision of two black holes or two neutron stars happening billions of years ago. These ripples in the fabric of space-time open up a new window in the universe and test the very nature of gravity as posed by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago. At an Open Night at the SAAO in Cape Town on 24 March 2018, Dr Álvaro de la Cruz-dombriz (UCT lecturer, Cosmology and Gravity Group) will present a talk titled Gravitational waves: a new window to reality, a tour of this fascinating discovery, describing gravitational waves, how black holes and neutron stars can produce them, and what all the excitement was about.