In 2015, scientists discovered the telltale signal from ripples of spacetime sweeping over the Earth. It was the very first direct detection of gravitational waves, generated by the merger of two massive black holes 1.3 billion light-years away.
This discovery was the culmination of decades of research and construction of huge instruments called interferometers to detect the warping of spacetime caused by gravitational waves.
Today, the most advanced detectors, the LIGO/VIRGO collaboration, have turned up over 50 gravitational wave discoveries - on average one every week - allowing astronomers to perceive the Universe in a completely different way.
What new gravitational wave instruments are in the works, and what does the future hold for this relatively new field of study?
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References:
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-interferometer
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/system/mediafiles/binaries/313/original/LIGOHistory.pdf
https://gwcenter.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/plan
http://www.gw-indigo.org/tiki-index.php
https://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume29/may2018/features/gravitationalwavestheroadahead/
http://www.et-gw.eu/
https://tds.virgo-gw.eu/?callfile=ET-0106C-10.pdf
https://cosmicexplorer.org/
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1907/1907.04833.pdf
https://sci.esa.int/web/lisa/-/61367-mission-summary
https://sci.esa.int/web/lisa-pathfinder/-/59238-lisa-pathfinder-to-conclude-trailblazing-mission
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1907.11305.pdf