Tag: Advanced LIGO
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A cosmic first! Gravitational waves and telescopes reveal the clash and flash of neutron stars
An artist’s conception shows two neutron stars merging, and sending out radiation as well as gravitational waves in the process. (NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University Illustration / A. Simonnet) For the first time ever, researchers have recorded the cataclysmic smash-up of two neutron stars by virtue of their gravitational waves as well as…
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Gravitational wave hubbub hints at LIGO’s first sighting of a neutron star smash-up
An artist’s conception visualizes the gravitational waves given off by a neutron star collision. (LIGO / MIT / Caltech Illustration) Another big announcement about gravitational waves is coming up, and this time the hints point to observations in electromagnetic wavelengths as well — emissions of light that may have come from a collision of neutron stars,…
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No-surprise Nobel: LIGO physicists win prize for gravitational wave discoveries
The beamlines for the LIGO detector site at Hanford stretch out across the desert terrain of southeastern Washington. Each arm of the L-shaped detector is 2.5 miles long. (Credit: LIGO) This year’s Nobel Prize for physics is going, unsurprisingly, to three people who represent the hundreds of researchers behind the first direct detection of gravitational waves…
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Europe’s Virgo detector picks up its first gravitational wave and nails down locale
This graphic shows the ripples in spacetime created by gravitational waves emanating from the merger of two black holes. (Max Planck Institute / NCSA Illustration) Astronomers have detected their fourth gravitational wave from the merger of two black holes, but this one marks a new milestone. It’s the first wave picked up by the Virgo…
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This black hole crash expands the frontier for gravitational wave hunters at LIGO
An artist’s conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO. (LIGO / Caltech / MIT / Sonoma State Illustration / Aurore Simonnet) The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory has detected its third confirmed black hole merger, and this one’s a doozy: LIGO’s latest discovery is about 3 billion light-years away, which is more…
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The Year in Aerospace and Science: Why gravitational waves wowed the world
A visualization shows gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. (NASA Illustration / C. Henze) The biggest science story of 2016 was a century in the making, and will surely earn someone a Nobel Prize. The first detection of gravitational waves from the crash of two black holes is important not only for the…
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LIGO goes back to the gravity-wave grind
The beamlines for the LIGO detector site at Hanford stretch out across the desert terrain of southeastern Washington. Each arm of the L-shaped detector is 2.5 miles long. (Credit: LIGO) The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory is back on the hunt for ripples in spacetime, months after reporting the first signature of a black hole collision in gravitational…
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LIGO gets lit up again by gravitational waves from another black hole crash
An artist’s conception shows gravitational waves emanating like ripples in space time as two black holes approach each other in their orbits. (Credit: T. Pyle / LIGO) It looks as if gravitational-wave watchers are in for a bumpy, beautiful ride. Scientists using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, have confirmed the detection of another…
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Hanford’s scientists finally spill gravitational-wave secrets – but they still can’t tell all
The beamlines for the LIGO detector site at Hanford stretch out across the desert terrain of southeastern Washington. Each arm of the L-shaped detector is 2.5 miles long. (Credit: LIGO) HANFORD, Wash. – Physicists here had to keep mum for nearly five months about the gravitational-wave breakthrough they helped make, but they made up for their…
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Gravitational waves found! LIGO experiment watches two black holes smash together
A computer simulation shows two black holes shortly before they merge into one. (Credit: SXS) WASHINGTON, D.C. – After more than a decade of looking, scientists say they’ve detected the gravitational waves given off when two black holes merged into one bigger black hole. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it!” Caltech…