The Future Of Gravitational Waves. Seeing Every Black Hole Collision In The Observable Universe?

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?

Our Book is out!

Audio Podcast version:

Weekly email newsletter:

Weekly Space Hangout:

Astronomy Cast:

Twitter: @universetoday

References:

[eherrmann]

I live about 20 miles (32Km) from LIGO Livingston. They have an open house one Saturday each month and give tours. It's extremely cool.

[dax]

Ignoring the Fermi Paradox for a moment, would one of these devices be able to pick up whether another civilization was using a technology like the Alcubierre Warp Drive?

[mikec]

Have there been any developments regarding the use of pulsar timing arrays to detect gravitational waves?

[veggiet]

I would like to know how many of these are needed before we can construct a rudimentary "image" of the gravitational waves around us. Something that we could overlay on top of the microwave background?

[bjorntorlarsson]

I heard of gravitational wave dectors about 20 years ago, and what it takes for it to succeed. I thought, that won't happen and paid no more attention to it. Then suddenly it happened, and it is an entirely new frontier to fundamental physics. Great to hear that there's a rush to build new GW observatories!

[unvergebeneid]

God, I can't wait! Especially for LISA! So exciting :D

[homersimpson]

I find it hard to believe they can keep something so still so far away from each other for even relatively short periods of time at great distances in space, never mind long term.

[UpcycleElectronics]

I love hearing about these projects. Have you ever thought about doing a "State of the Decadal (survey)?" Like a "where are the winners at now" kind of thing would be a fun. It's a way to stay with and follow such projects beyond the initial hype of the NASA survey.

Thanks patre-peeps :-)

[sergioortiz]

I have yet to see an explanation of how we know both the masses and distances of the objects involved in the collision (is it two tiny black holes nearby or two bigger ones further away?). My understanding is that we've computer modelled a whole range of collisions of varying solar masses and distances, and whenever we get a signal, we compare the shape of the signal against the signals we've already worked out using computer modelling. Is this correct?

[bygabtier]

Another great video Fraser. I never miss them . Spooky face at 12:38 by the way. Inserted by Chad maybe ?

[zapfanzapfan]

How close would be black hole merger have to be to cause an effect such as the visualization at the beginning?

[PhysicsPolice]

Best to pronounce the name of KAGRA as "kagura" (kah-goo-rah) which is a nod to the Japanese musical tradition.

[GeneralBoboDK]

Hello Fraser,

This may not be your area of expertise, but I have a question regarding time that I cannot wrap my mind around :) If times goes slower as speed goes up, and knowing that the earth is moving around the sun at a pretty fast pace, and that our solar system is speeding around the milky-way at a considerable speed - Does that mean that we are experiencing time at a slower pace compared to the center of the milky-way, or the center of the universe for example? :)

Asked in another way: If time goes slower, the faster you go... Can you then somehow speed up the passage of time by somehow going slower than we are now? :)

Funnily enough I feel that just by asking you this, somethings have fallen into place now...! :D My question almost sounds stupid to me now... But still, I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter...?

[azorthegreat]

I have been searching for what was the upgrade that suddenly made the detections possible?

[larrybeckham]

What's going on at 6:34? Anyone have the license number of that thing (i.e. the Astronomical name)?

[SimonClarkstone]

How is LIGO not swamped by the changes in its length coming from lunar and solar tides?

[darringreen]

Fraser, I understand how the Ligo detection is made as far as a gravitational wave changing the wavelength of the laser by lengthening and shortening its travel distance, but I've never heard how Interferometers focus on a certain point in the sky. How can they know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a gravitational wave isn't coming from a collision say 10 degrees north or 5 degrees west from where they think it came from. Since the Interferometer is stationary and can't move like a conventional telescope, how do they actually focus on a particular spot in the sky 100 million light-years away and not detect something from 1/2 degree or 30 degrees off?

[yakovkosharovsky]

HI Fraser, I need clarification..
In order to detect all these wonders, we need them to be alligned with Earth or it doesnt matter what the angle is?

[michaelclement]

The 3.6 billion light years, is that the current distance from the source or the time taken to reach us? I'm wondering how much sensitivity we will need to see further than the CMB and if we can guess when that will be possible

[Verdadeiro]

Hi, Fraser! Can you do a special video about the planet MERCURY, like the one you did about Uranus and Neptune? To me it's the most forgotten planet. You could also mention the joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for it, called "BepiColombo", scheduled for 2025 to arrive there.