LIGO | Hanford

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Slides

Welcome to LIGO Hanford

• June 11, 2019

LIGO Hanford is located in the Columbia Basin region of Eastern Washington near the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco. Our facility operates in tandem with the LIGO Livingston detector to listen for the faint whispers of gravitational waves from the most energetic events in the universe.

LIGO Hanford hosts site tours, school field trips, and special public events. Use the menus above to see our tour and event schedules, and to learn more about the science and engineering that are driving the search for and study of gravitational waves.
LHO Receives WA Funds to Build STEM Exploration Center

News Release • June 10, 2019

LIGO Hanford Observatory awarded $7.7M from state of Washington to build 'STEM Exploration Center' for WA students and the public.
LIGO and Virgo Detect Neutron Star Smash-Ups

News Release • May 2, 2019

LIGO and VIrgo detect gravitational waves from what appears likely to be a crash between two neutron stars, and possibly a neutron star-black hole collision.
LIGO and Virgo Announce Four New Gravitational-Wave Detections

News Release • December 3, 2018

The National Science Foundation's LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and the European-based VIRGO gravitational-wave detector have published new results from the first two Observing runs. Four new black hole mergers are newly announced, The LIGO and Virgo collaborations have now confidently detected gravitational waves from a total of 10 stellar-mass binary black hole mergers and one merger of neutron stars, which are the dense, spherical remains of stellar explosions.
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.
What are gravitational waves? Why are we looking for them? How does it affect us? Virtual Tour
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.

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News

First Public Gravitational Wave Alert Issued!

News Release • April 11, 2019

LIGO and Virgo have sent out their first-ever “public alert”, informing the world of a possible gravitational wave detection. The candidate event occurred on April 8, 2019.

Latest Headlines

LIGO and Virgo Resume Search for Ripples in Space and Time

News Release • March 26, 2019

LIGO and Virgo to Begin Third Observing Run on April 1, 2019

News Release • March 20, 2019

Researchers

Social Media

Upcoming LIGO Hanford Public Tours:

The next public tour will take place Saturday July 13th, 2019, 1:30 p.m.

Contact LIGO Hanford

Physical/shipping address:
127124 N Rt. 10
Richland, WA 99354

Postal address:
PO Box 159
Richland, WA 99352-0159

46 27 18.528 N, 119 24 27.5657 W

Information: (509) 372-8106

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LIGO is jointly operated by Caltech and MIT
LIGO is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation

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LIGO Laboratory is member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
We observe and publish science with the Virgo Collaboration

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