LIGO is back and ready to search for more gravitational waves

After more than a year-long hiatus, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is back online and more sensitive than ever to the tiny ripples in spacetime generated when black holes and dead stars collide.

Following numerous upgrades to its lasers, mirrors, and quantum noise filters, LIGO—which consists of twin detectors in Washington and Louisiana—is now about 40 percent more sensitive to gravitational waves compared to its last run. This means that it can scan about twice the volume of space for smash-ups between two black holes or two neutron stars than before.

Working with its European counterpart, VIRGO, LIGO may even be able to detect gravitational waves from predicted, but as yet unseen, black hole-neutron star mergers.

Here, two longtime members of the LIGO group, Robert Byer and Brian Lantz, explain how the moon passing overhead or earthquakes on the far side of the Earth can disrupt LIGO. Byer, a professor at Stanford University, and Lantz, a senior research scientist, also recall how the first detection of a gravitational wave in 2015 was met with widespread skepticism and discuss plans for LIGO’s future.

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