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LIGO and Virgo make first detection of gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars

Press release • October 16, 2017

For the first time, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space and time — in addition to light from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars. This marks the first time that a cosmic event has been viewed in both gravitational waves and light.
Nobel Prize awarded to LIGO Founders

News Release • October 3, 2017

LIGO co-founders Barry C. Barish, Kip S. Thorne, and Rainer Weiss win the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger observed by LIGO and Virgo

News Release • September 27, 2017

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo collaboration report the first joint detection of gravitational waves with both the LIGO and Virgo detectors. This is the fourth announced detection of a binary black hole system and the first significant gravitational-wave signal recorded by the Virgo detector, and highlights the scientific potential of a three-detector network of gravitational-wave detectors.
LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves

Detection Portal • February 11, 2016

On September 14, 2015 at 5:51 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (09:51 UTC), the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA both measured ripples in the fabric of spacetime – gravitational waves – arriving at the Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. The new Advanced LIGO detectors had just been brought into operation for their first observing run when the very clear and strong signal was captured.
What are gravitational waves? Why are we looking for them? How does it affect us? Virtual Tour

News

LIGO Designated APS Historic Site

News Release • June 15, 2018

On June 20th, LIGO's two detector sites will be designated historic sites by the American Physical Society. The two observatories - one in Livingston, Louisiana and one in Hanford, Washington - will receive plaques recognizing the historic nature of the first direct detection of gravitational waves.

Headlines

New Video: LIGO: A Discovery that Shook the World

News Release • February 22, 2018

New Ron Drever Gravitational Wave Scholarship Announced

News Release • January 2, 2018

Physics World 2017 Breakthrough of the Year Award

News Release • December 11, 2017

Nobel Prize Week

News Release • December 6, 2017

Adalberto Giazotto, 1940-2017

News Release • November 20, 2017

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