Zooming in on the Source of Gravitational Waves

This animation shows how LIGO, Virgo, and space-and ground-based telescopes zoomed in on the location of gravitational waves detected August17, 2017 by LIGO and Virgo. By combining data from the Fermi and Integral space missions with data from LIGO and Virgo, scientists were able to confine the source of the waves to a 30-square-degree sky patch. Visible-light telescopes searched a large number of galaxies in that region, ultimately revealing NGC 4993 to be the source of gravitational waves.

Credit: LIGO-Virgo