Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves are disturbation in space-time, the very fabric of the universe, that travel at the speed of light. The waves are emitted by any mass that is changing speed or direction. The simplest example is a binary system, wherea pair of stars or compact objects (like black holes) orbit their common  center of mass.

We can think of gravitational effects as curvatures in space-time. Earth's gravity is constant and produces a     static curve in space-time. A gravitational wave is a curvature that moves through space-time much like a       water wave moves across the surface of a like. Its' generated only when masses are speeding up, slowing       down or changing direction.