EINSTEIN’S handiwork is making waves across the globe. The Indian government has given initial approval for the construction of LIGO-India, a detector that will complement the US instruments that spotted gravitational waves for the first time.
The two US detectors, one in Washington and the other in Louisiana, saw the signal of a black hole merger just a few milliseconds apart, but with just two detectors the location of the source couldn’t be pinned down. A third LIGO detector will allow researchers to triangulate gravitational wave sources and train other telescopes on the same part of the sky to learn more.
“A third LIGO detector will allow researchers to triangulate gravitational wave sources“
The site for LIGO-India’s two 4-kilometre laser interferometer arms is still to be decided. If funding is secured, it could be up and running by 2023. Two smaller, less-sensitive, detectors in Germany and Italy are expected to come online later this year.
This article appeared in print under the headline “India joins LIGO”