12th of February 2016 |
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Aussie innovation helps hunt down gravitational waves |
For the first time in history, astronomers
have detected the presence of elusive gravitational waves - ripples in space
time that provide direct evidence of violent cosmic events taking place in
the Universe. The discovery, announced today in Washington, was made by the
Advanced Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US, which
comprises two giant detectors that are 4km long and 3000km apart (Abbott et al.
2016). Many of the LIGO's ultra-high-performance optical mirrors were coated
by researchers from CSIRO. "Now that we've caught these waves, we can use them
to see the Universe in entirely different ways to what was previously
possible." - For more information see our News release. Related: Gravity Wave Animation (by John Rowe Animation/Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO) and Merging Black Holes in Galaxies - our first Southern Cross Astrophysics Conference. |