Scots scientists have helped prove the existence of gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago.

The discovery was made at labs in the US using technology developed at Glasgow University and Strathclyde University.

Their work could help us learn more about the early universe and provides the first direct evidence of black holes.

But what are gravitational waves and why does their discovery matter?

What are gravitational waves?

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time created by massive objects like black holes and neutron stars travelling through the universe at high speed.

The waves radiate out from the object which created them, warping space-time as they go.

You can picture the way gravity affects space-time by imagining yourself placing a heavy ball on a trampoline. The ball would bend the surface of the trampoline in a similar way to how the gravity of a star or a black hole bends the fabric of space-time.

The bigger the object is, the more it bends space-time and the larger ripples it creates when it moves. The biggest gravitational waves are caused by violent events like the collision of black holes.

Why haven't we been able to prove they exist until now?

By the time gravitational waves reach Earth, their impact on space-time is relatively small and difficult to detect.

Any confirmed discovery also has to be recorded by multiple sensors at once - a potential detection in Glasgow in the 1970s was excluded for this reason.

But what is space-time?

Physicists describe space-time as a fourth dimension which can be affected by objects in the dimension we live in, the third dimension.

The concept, set out by Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity published in 1915, has helped scientists explain and understand the universe.

The Theory of Relativity also implies the existence of black holes, another prediction which has been proven correct as a consequence of Ligo's breakthrough.

Why is this discovery important?

Ligo's landmark work could allow scientists to observe space in an entirely new way.

Gravitational waves are created by the most catastrophic events in the universe and some are believed to have their origins in the Big Bang - the event which created everything in the universe.

Scientists can measure gravitational waves to learn how they were created and their findings could help us study events from the early universe like the Big Bang in greater detail then ever before.