LIGO operates two gravitational-wave observatories in unison, located 3,002 km (1,865 mi) apart: the LIGO Livingston Observatory (30°33′46.42″N 90°46′27.27″W) in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, on the DOE Hanford Site ( 46°27′18.52″N 119°24′27.56″W) near Richland, Washington.
- Where were gravitational waves detected?
- Why are gravitational waves detected?
- What detected gravitational waves for the first time?
- Where are the LIGO detectors located?
- Where do gravitational waves come from?
- What is a gravitational wave and why was it so hard to detect?
- How do you observe gravitational waves?
- Where are the two LIGO detectors located in the United States?
- How many gravitational waves have been detected?
Where were gravitational waves detected?
How do we know that gravitational waves exist? In 2015, scientists detected gravitational waves for the very first time. They used a very sensitive instrument called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory). These first gravitational waves happened when two black holes crashed into one another.
Why are gravitational waves detected?
Detecting and analyzing the information carried by gravitational waves is allowing us to observe the Universe in a way never before possible, providing astronomers and other scientists with their first glimpses of literally un-seeable wonders.
What detected gravitational waves for the first time?
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory On September 14, 2015 those waves reached Earth and were detected by researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).
Where are the LIGO detectors located?
Observatories. LIGO operates two gravitational wave observatories in unison: the LIGO Livingston Observatory ( 30°33′46.42″N 90°46′27.27″W) in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, on the DOE Hanford Site ( 46°27′18.52″N 119°24′27.56″W), located near Richland, Washington.
Where do gravitational waves come from?
Gravitational waves are produced by masses moving through space-time in a special way. The simplest system that produces gravitational waves is two masses orbiting their common center of mass. One of the most common such system is a binary star system – two stars orbiting each other's common center of mass.
What is a gravitational wave and why was it so hard to detect?
The reason it's so difficult to detect them is because they only stretch space a tiny amount. In order to measure those tiny spacetime fluctuations, LIGO needed one of the largest and most precise experiments in human history. They built a massive facility with two long tunnels, each almost two miles in length.
How do you observe gravitational waves?
Gravitational waves can be detected indirectly – by observing celestial phenomena caused by gravitational waves – or more directly by means of instruments such as the Earth-based LIGO or the planned space-based LISA instrument.
Where are the two LIGO detectors located in the United States?
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 home to the interferometers that make LIGO an "observatory".
How many gravitational waves have been detected?
Astrophysicists from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration have detected a further 35 gravitational waves since the last catalog release in October 2020, bringing to 90 the total number of observed events since gravitational-wave observations began.