A T N F    D a i l y    A s t r o n o m y    P i c t u r e

12th of February 2016
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.


<<   |   archive   |   about   |   today   *   ATNF   |   Parkes   |   ATCA   |   Mopra   |   VLBI   |   ASKAP   |   >>