LIGO: A Wider Window To The Universe
Context:
Building LIGO-India is a step forward for gravitational wave research and the global advancement of science that is interdisciplinary.
Points to Ponder
- Massive events like black hole mergers, supernova explosions, and neutron star collisions produce gravitational waves, which are cosmic ripples in space-time.
- The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a study project supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, allowed physicists to observe gravitational waves for the first time in 2015.
- LIGO is made up of two American facilities that employ the interferometric technique to use lasers to find squirms in space-time.
- The LIGO experiment, which is more than simply an observatory, sheds new light on the formation of the universe, the existence of neutron stars, and merging black holes.
- Researchers can now “hear” the universe in addition to studying it with light because LIGO discovers gravitational waves, which has opened up a completely new method of observation.
- A $320 million grant from India has enabled the National Science Foundation of the United States, eminent American universities, and India’s Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology to work together on the ground-breaking LIGO-India project.
- In the Hingoli area of Maharashtra, LIGO-India will open up new possibilities, generating employment opportunities for the technical workforce and motivating the subsequent generation of STEM leaders.
- The National Science Foundation-funded LIGO Laboratory, run by Caltech and MIT, and India’s RRCAT, Institute for Plasma Research, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, as well as the Department of Atomic Energy Directorate of Construction, Services and Estate Management, have joined forces to form LIGO-India.
- The global network of LIGO-India, Virgo, and the Kamioka Gravitational-wave Detector (KAGRA) in Japan will expand the capabilities of science and technology and contribute to the resolution of some of the most fundamental cosmological questions.
- The development of LIGO-India is a significant step forward for gravitational wave research as well as for the advancement of science globally.
Similar Topics
