LIGO opened up our sixth sense to understand the universe and set the ball rolling for a new era of
observational astrophysics with the detection of gravitational waves
Kolkata : In 2016, science fiction and reality collided when LIGO opened up our sixth sense to understand the universe and set the ball rolling for a new era of observational astrophysics with the detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes, reports IANS.
Along the way, the international team of researchers associated with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) scientific collaboration picked up numerous accolades and inspired a new generation of scientists.
The discovery of these elusive waves, a century after Albert Einstein’s prediction, is undoubtedly the biggest physics success story in 2016. Dubbed as “ripples in the curvature of space and time”, these waves will provide information on the cosmos that wouldn’t have been possible by peering through any kind of telescope: to explore fundamental physics and could even offer a peep into the universe’s earliest moments.
The electrifying revelations by the 1,000-member LIGO also heralded a new chapter in India’s future of new-age astrophysics. With India poised to set up a LIGO (the third in the world), scientists expect to hear space-time rhythms from Indian soil within next six to seven years, according to Karan P. Jani, one of the many US-based Indian researchers working on the project.
LIGO research is carried out by the international LIGO Scientific Collaboration (which includes the GEO Collaboration and the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy) and the Virgo Collaboration in Europe.
The LIGO-India project is envisaged as an international collaboration between the LIGO Laboratory and three lead institutions in the IndIGO consortium: Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) Gandhinagar, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.
The window to the cosmos literally opened up on February 11, 2016, when LIGO announced the first-ever direct observation of gravitational waves. The waves arose from the merger of two massive black holes 1.3 billion light years away and were recorded by both of LIGO’s detectors – one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana.
They were first tracked down on September 14, 2015, by both detectors. The LIGO Observatories are funded by the National Science Foundation and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
