Monthly Meeting December – Exploring the Gravitational Wave Universe

Measuring gravitational waves is a revolutionary new way to do astronomy. They were predicted by Einstein, but it was not until 2015, that LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) first detected one of these waves. They were tiny ripples in space itself, generated by the collision of two black holes. Since then, LIGO and its international partners have measured nearly 100 signals. Dr. Lantz explains what we can learn from these bursts of energy and just how it is possible to measure a wave which stretches our detector 1000 times less than the diameter of a proton. And he discusses what’s coming next in our search for these tell-tale ripples in space?

Dr. Lantz is the scientific leader for the Advanced LIGO seismic isolation system.

This will be a rebroadcast of one of the Silicaon Valley Lecture Series.