I made this website for the MeerKAT PTA. Check it out! mpta-gw.github.io

When we started MSP precision timing with MeerKAT in 2018, we knew it would be a fantastic telescope for a pulsar timing array, but did not know when it would become sensitive to gravitational waves. The timing baseline with MeerKAT would always be much shorter than other established PTAs.

MOAR EVIDENCE FOR THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE BACKGROUND! Using MeerKAT (super sensitive telescope array) the MPTA team have also found supporting evidence (with their assumptions and models) of the GWB that other PTAs announced last year. This is further independent verification! The Universe rattles!

For the past few years I've been leading the first gravitational wave searches with the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array (mpta-gw.github.io/index.html). It's been an incredibly rewarding experience, and today the research is published!

What generates the gravitational waves that make up the background? It is probably supermassive black-hole binaries and/or early Universe physics. We don't know yet but it is likely a combination of both! 💥 It's paper release day tomorrow! Excited to share with you all!