Did the Big Bang create gravitational waves? Primordial gravitational waves, produced nearly 13.8 billion years ago in the moments following the Big Bang, still echo through the universe today. Where do gravitational waves originate? The strongest gravitational waves are produced by...
What is a burst gravitational wave? Burst gravitational waves come from short-duration unknown or unanticipated sources—they are the gravitational waves that go bump in the night. What happens if gravitational waves hit Earth? As a result, time and space itself are...
How does LIGO detect gravitational waves? LIGO currently consists of two interferometers, each with two 4 km (2.5 mile) long arms arranged in the shape of an “L”. These instruments act as ‘antennae’ to detect gravitational waves. What is LIGO and...
Is LIGO still operating? Following two years of upgrades, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is almost ready for its next operating run, which is set to begin in March 2023. What is LIGO trying to detect? It is the world’s...
What does a gravitational wave detector do? Interferometric gravitational wave detectors measure the relative lengths of two orthogonal (or nearly orthogonal) cavities. The simplest interferometric detector is based on the Michelson interferometer. In this configuration, a beam of light is split...
Why is LIGO in Louisiana? LIGO is a national facility for gravitational-wave research, providing opportunities for the broader scientific community to participate in detector development, observation, and data analysis. Where is LIGO India located? The observatory, which will cost 12.6 billion...
Where are the LIGO detectors located? The two primary research centers are located at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The detector sites in Hanford and Livingston are...
How many gravitational wave detectors are there in the world? At present, three other gravitational wave observatories are in operation or under construction in other parts of the world. These are LIGO’s sister facilities. How many LIGO detectors are there in...
How many gravitational wave detections are there? Of the 35 events detected, thirty two were most likely to be black hole mergers — two black holes spiraling around each other and finally joining together — and three were collisions between neutron...
Did LIGO really detect gravitational waves? Einstein also predicted that certain swirling configurations of mass would radiate gravitational waves. The 1000 physicists working with LIGO have twice detected such waves emanating from a pair of massive black holes spiraling into each...