Though the word gravity waves may sound somewhat similar to gravitational waves, and save a whole six characters for an even more concise tweet to mention “gravity” instead of “gravitational”, there is a lot of difference between the two.

Predicted over a century ago in Einstein’s theory, gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime, which are generated by the acceleration (or, indeed, deceleration) of massive objects in the cosmos. If a star bursts as a supernova, these waves carry energy away from the detonation at a speed almost equal to light.

These ripples will be caused in spacetime, almost similar to ripples across the surface of a pond, in case two black holes collide. Energy moves away from the system through gravitational waves whenever two neutron stars orbit each other very closely.

In a tweet, Arizona State University cosmologist Lawrence Krauss wrote, "My earlier rumor about LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting”.

Scientists from Caltech, MIT and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration have been working together to provide a status report on the effort to detect gravitational waves using the LIGO. Their aim is to update the scientific community on efforts to detect gravitational waves.

Gravity waves, on the other hand, are physical perturbations driven by the restoring force of gravity in a planetary environment. These may be specific to planetary atmospheres and certain bodies of water. As air blows across an ocean in the case of atmospherics and then encounters an island, that air will be forced to rise.

Scientists are hopeful of discovering a mechanism one day that will detect and observe these waves, following which a new era of gravitational wave astronomy may be possible, allowing us to differentiate between gravitational wave signatures and work out which phenomenon is generating them.