New telescope array for Australia

A NEW TELESCOPE SYSTEM designed to help in the hunt for the origins of gravitational waves will soon start operating in Australia. To be situated at Siding Spring Observatory in NSW, the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), led by the UK’s University of Warwick, will look for flashes of light associated with events that produce gravitational disturbances… such as the merger of black holes.

Many such gravitational events have been detected in recent years since the Advanced Laser Interferometry Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) began operating in 2015. But astronomers want to pinpoint the exact locations and objects involved in the detections, which means they need to ‘see’ them at electromagnetic wavelengths.

That’s where GOTO comes in. The system will comprise two sites, one at La Palma in the Canary Islands and the other at Siding Spring. Each location will have sixteen 40-cm