A burst of gravitational waves followed closely by neutrinos and then the light.  While light's speed, in vacuum, is constant in all inertial reference frames, it does vary depending on the medium.  The same is not necessarily true of all waves which share this quality with light.  Neutrinos and gravitational waves would reach us well before the light did.   This is why the widely reported news of LIGO detecting a burst of gravitational waves is so intriguing to astrophysicists.   Here is what else the astrophysical community will be looking for and why.

There is dark energy as sure as there is light in the world. It just may not be a simple scalar multiplier in our equations as we had hoped it would be. Dark energy is what the scientific consensus says that over 95% of the mass-energy of the universe is comprised of.  This is backed by many studies and a new study to be published in the Astrophysical Journal (1)  which also pairs with earlier research that showed the dark matter may not be the same in every direction (2).    This indicates to my theorizing mind that the dark energy will turn out to be a scalar.  I have more than speculation to back this up (3).

Transgender women of color who have an advanced degree, MS or PhD, in Physics, and who have made, or make some part of their living by doing physics are rare.  So far as I know I am the only one.

Look forward to a decade where the quantum computer becomes practical, we travel around the Moon, and inch closer to understanding of quantum gravity. Predicting the future in any detail is impossible but we can look at what people are working on now and make some reasonable inferences on what is likely to happen with those projects.  In the case of certain astronomical events, such as the total solar eclipse of April 2024, we can predict them with certainty.  Last year I did ok with my own predictions so now I hazard some informed guesses for the 2020’s.

In December of last year I made some predictions for 2019. So how did I do? Those predictions spanned science and technology and followed from things which were in the works in 2018.  When it comes to space flight we were all perhaps a bit too optimistic in 2018 going into 2019.  When it comes to technology we haven't seen a fundamental change to how most of us compute in a very long time. 

• Human space flight from American soil thanks to Space X but not on the time table they say.

After months of delay the construction of TMT will not be able to start in 2019.  With the start of construction on hold for an indefinite period.  Some take this as a win for the protest, striking a blow against inequality, homelessness, underemployment and overincarceration of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) by stopping a telescope.  Others who know that at the altitude of that telescope, where it is snowing and inclement, that building a modern building is ten times more difficult.