For 13 years, the scientists of LIGO—the most ambitious, and expensive, project in the history of the National Science Foundation—had been waiting. LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Two black holes whirled violently towards each other, under the pull ...

Installation of in-vacuum equipment as a part of the squeezed-light upgrade before Advanced LIGO’s third observing run. LIGO team members install in-vacuum equipment that is part of the squeezed-light ...

After a three-year hiatus, scientists in the U.S. have just turned on detectors capable of measuring gravitational waves—tiny ripples in space itself that travel through the universe. Unlike light ...

Scientists say they detected the largest-ever merger of two black holes, forming one that is 225 times the mass of the sun, adding that the new discovery "pushes the limits of" how astronomers ...

Optics technician Gary Traylor uses a light to inspect one of the laser-reflecting mirrors at the LIGO facility in Livingston, La. (Credit: Matt Heintze / Caltech / MIT / LIGO Lab) The scientists ...

Earth is awash in gravitational waves. Over a six-month period, scientists captured a bounty of 39 sets of gravitational waves. The waves, which stretch and squeeze the fabric of spacetime, were ...

Putting the squeeze on light improves gravitational wave observatories. An upgrade to one such observatory, LIGO, that comes from exploiting a quantum rule known as the Heisenberg uncertainty ...