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LIGO is a huge milestone. Turning it on is like the moment Galileo pointed his telescope to the moon. This is a new class of instruments observing the universe
by ww520 5y ago
LIGO is a huge milestone. Turning it on is like the moment Galileo pointed his telescope to the moon. This is a new class of instruments observing the universe in a medium that was never utilized before. Using gravitational waves can observe things that cannot be seen before, like stars behind the dust clouds.
It opens a new window to the world. We might finally be able to “see” dark matter. May be able to see the gravitational imprint from before the Big Bang, the gravitational leak from extra dimension or other universes.
- sdenton4 5y agoHere's one (negative!) result on trying to detect dark matter with LIGO: https://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O3DarkPhotons/ https://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O3DarkPhotons/
- ww520 5y agoI thought LIGO is kind of crude, i.e. it's being used to measure in the scale of blackhole level gravity. The dark matter experiment is trying to measure the gravity of a photon? May be too optimistic?
- sdenton4 5y agoSounds like they're looking for dark photons interacting with the detector, and, thanks to its extreme sensitivity, able to place upper bounds on the strength of the interactions (since none were observed). This means dark photons have very very weak interactions with normal matter.... or that they don't exist. :)
- metalliqaz 5y agoI hope to live long enough to see the evolution of interferometers that will be to LIGO as HST was to Galileo's telescope.
- foo92691 5y agoThis is what you're waiting for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Antenna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Ant...
- BbzzbB 5y ago> Launch date: 2037 (planned) It hurts.
- metalliqaz 5y agoassume it takes an extra 10 years due to delays and time to get some science done, I should just about make it.
- dylan604 5y agoI thought LIGO was the HST to Galileo's telescope.
- ww520 5y agoGalileo's telescope and HST all work on electromagnetic energy. LIGO work on gravitational wave. LIGO is the beginning of a completely different class of instruments.