THE FIRST OBSERVATION OF GRAVITATIONAL-WAVES FROM A BINARY NEUTRON STAR INSPIRAL

in #nasa7 years ago


 Virgo Helps Localize Gravitational-Wave Signals. Sky localizations of gravitational-wave signals detected by LIGO beginning in 2015 (GW150914, LVT151012, GW151226, GW170104), and, more recently, by the LIGO-Virgo network (GW170814, GW170817). After Virgo came online in August 2017, scientists were better able to localize the gravitational-wave signals. The background is an optical image of the Milky Way. The localizations of GW150914, LVT151012, and GW170104 wrap around the celestial sphere, so the sky map is shown with a translucent dome. [Credit: LIGO/Virgo/NASA/Leo Singer (Milky Way image: Axel Mellinger)]