Tag: Virgo
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LIGO starts its fourth round of searching for gravitational waves and black holes
A specialist checks the alignment of a test beam at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. (National Science Foundation Photo) After three years of upgrading and waiting, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory has officially resumed its hunt for the signatures of crashing black holes and neutron stars. “Our LIGO…
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Black hole or neutron star? Gravitational waves bring a cosmic conundrum to light
An artist’s conception shows the imminent merger of two mismatched black holes. The mystery object involved in the merger detected last year might have been an unexpectedly small black hole or an unexpectedly large neutron star. (Credit: N. Fischer, S. Ossokine, H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno / Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics / Simulating eXtreme…
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Japan’s KAGRA detector joins LIGO and Virgo in global hunt for gravitational waves
An illustration provides a cutaway view of the underground KAGRA gravitational-wave detector in Japan. (ICRR / Univ. of Tokyo Illustration) Japan’s Kamioka Gravitational-Wave Detector, or KAGRA, is due to start teaming up with similar detectors in Washington state, Louisiana and Italy in December, boosting scientists’ ability to triangulate on the origins of cataclysmic cosmic events…
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LIGO and Virgo recap smashups, including hints of a black hole eating a neutron star
Scientists work in the LIGO Hanford control room. (Caltech / MIT / LIGO Lab Photo / C. Gray) The science teams for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, and Europe’s Virgo detector today laid out the details of their recent detections, including a crash between neutron stars, three black hole mergers and what may…
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LIGO and Virgo detectors get in sync for gravitational-wave hunt that’ll last a year
Detector engineers Hugh Radkins (foreground) and Betsy Weaver (background) take up positions inside the vacuum system of the detector at LIGO Hanford Observatory to perform the hardware upgrades required for Advanced LIGO’s third observing run. (LIGO / Caltech / MIT Photo / Jeff Kissel) Physicists won’t be fooling around on April 1 at the Laser…