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Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project
What to study?
For Prelims and Mains: LIGO- global significance and significance for India, all about gravitational waves.
Context: An international team led by LIGO-Virgo scientists has identified another event of gravitational ripples from a collision of two neutron stars, making it the second time this type of occurrence has ever been observed in gravitational waves.
Background:
In August 2017, the first observation of gravitational ripples from a neutron star collision made history for being the first time that both gravitational waves and light were detected from the same cosmic occurrence.
What is LIGO?
It is a massive observatory for detecting cosmic gravitational waves and for carrying out experiments.
The objective is to use gravitational-wave observations in astronomical studies.
The project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. Two are at Hanford, Washington, north-western US, and one is at Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern US.
The proposed LIGO India project aims to move one advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India.
About LIGO- India project:
It is piloted by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
The LIGO-India project will be jointly coordinated and executed by three Indian research institutions: the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune and Department of Atomic Energy organisations: Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar and the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.
Benefits for India:
- The project will bring unprecedented opportunities for scientists and engineers to dig deeper into the realm of gravitational wave and take global leadership in this new astronomical frontier.
- The LIGO-India project will also bring considerable opportunities in cutting-edge technology for the Indian industry which will be engaged in the construction of the eight-km long beam tube at ultra-high vacuum on a levelled terrain.
- With its establishment, India will join the global network of gravitational wave detectors.
- Establishing an observatory in India also assumes importance because the further the distance between the observatories, the greater will be the accuracy in locating gravity waves.
Sources: the Hindu.
