Physics Department News
LIGO discovers gravitational waves
We congratulate the LIGO team on their compelling detection of a gravitational wave signal produced by a pair of coalescing black holes. This represents a remarkable achievement, presenting not only the first detection of a gravitational wave, but also the first detection of a pair of merging black holes.
Dr. Danny Steeghs comments, "We are about to deploy an optical telescope system that is dedicated to chase visible signatures of events detected with the advanced gravitational wave detectors, the Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO http://www.astro.warwick.ac.uk/goto). We are delighted to see LIGO deliver their first detection, with hopefully many more to follow.”
Prof Andrew Levan added "This observation is likely to open the window to a new era of “gravitational wave astronomy”, with gravitational waves carrying information directly from the heart of some of the most extreme systems in nature. Of course, a vital next step is to join-up these gravitational waves with electromagnetic observations, and this is exactly what GOTO, as well as our other programmes, for example with the Hubble Space Telescope, will seek to do in the next months to years”.