The detectors sensed that crest missed trough by the tiniest of distances, about a thousandth the diameter of a proton. (sciencenews.org)
Gravitational ripples are tiny: LIGO is tuned to detect waves that stretch and squeeze the arms by a thousandth of the diameter of a proton. (sciencenews.org)
Albert Einstein had predicted gravitational waves a century ago; the trick was to figure out how to build an interferometer sensitive enough to detect changes measuring a tiny fraction of the diameter of a proton. (sciencenews.org)