High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Gravitational Wave Astronomy is an emerging branch of observational astronomy which aims to use gravitational waves (minute distortions of spacetime predicted by Einstein`s theory of general relativity) to collect observational data about objects such as neutron stars and black holes, about events such as supernovae and about the early universe shortly after the big bang. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory or LIGO, a joint project between MIT and Caltech is spearheading this new field of research along with equally ambitious projects such as LISA, VIRGO, TAMA 300 and GEO 600.