Detection of gravitational waves would be unprecedented. Whoever finds them is also likely to pick up a Nobel prize, since the phenomenon would confirm one of the last pieces of Albert Einstein's famous 1915 theory of general relativity.

Confirming they exist would tell us we're still on the right track to understanding how the universe works. Failing to find them after all these years might suggest we need to revisit our best explanation for gravity or rethink our most sensitive experiments, or that we simply haven't looked long enough.

"Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time, predicted by Einstein 100 years ago," Szabi Marka, a physicist at Columbia University, told Tech Insider. "They can be created during the birth and collision of black holes, and can reach us from distant galaxies."

Black holes are the densest, most gravitationally powerful objects in existence — so a rare yet violent collision of two should trigger a burst of gravitational waves that we could detect here on Earth.