Scientists are on it again. On April 1, three giant machines will be working to find ripples in time and space. They will search the blanket of the universe for the idea of the mind-bending phenomena popularly referred to as the "gravitational waves.
The giant facilities are from Europe and the US. The Laser Observatory (LIGO) is located both in Washington and Louisiana will be working closely with the Virgo interferometer stationed in Italy. They have undergone very significant upgrades to help improve the components that will make this round of search become more fruitful.
After the check, the giant facilities are now ready to get back to work. They are specially designed to detect gravitational waves. They can do this through the suite of high-powered mirrors and lasers. Each facility is designed to achieve the L-shape with its perpendicular arms stretching out into the galaxy. Their length can go for miles to help push further the information they can collect from space.
The corner where the two arms meet at the "L" structure, the laser is fired. It will bounce off the mirrors before it is able to go back to where it originally came to hopefully recombine. The gravitational waves give off a faith signal that could easily disturb the path of the laser. The signal is faint, but it will allow scientists to detect ripple movements in the atmosphere.
An upgrade on the system of these facilities including the mirrors and the lasers has increased the sensitivity of the LIGO. compared to its last run, the LIGO is not 40% stronger and more sensitive. This upgrade will definitely allow the twins to peer across the atmosphere and cover more space area. In an effort to pick on possible ripples in space and time. On a similar occasion, the Virgo based in Italy has improved its sensitivity. It is now double what it initially was.
With all the three facilities running better than they have ever been, the detecting and location of the ripples and other extreme cosmic events could now be possible. Black holes, gravitational waves or the merging of stars after colliding should now become even better.
"With the improved sensitivity of our detectors and the facilities working much better, the global LIGO-VIRGO exploration will prove to be more fruitful this time," Jo van den Brand said. He is the spokesperson for this particular collaboration, according to the press release.
"The LIGO-VIRGO collaboration will indeed open more doors for us to discover more about the space. We're eager to see new events too."
