Gravitational waves from massive black holes challenge current astrophysical models

Funded by $8.1-million in grants from the state of Washington, The LIGO Exploration Center aims to inspire curiosity in people of all backgrounds and ages.

On February 3, 2021, the IEEE will host an online event to bestow its Milestone awards to the gravitational-wave observatories of LIGO and Virgo.

The American Physical Society (APS) has designated the two LIGO facilities historic physics sites.

As the Advanced LIGO Project geared up last summer, 27 undergraduates from around the world became full partners in one of the biggest, most complex physics experiment ever. Their contributions ranged from creating hardware and software for current use to helping design next-generation detectors.

This year the Caltech community celebrates 55 years of staff service awards, with the annual ceremony slated for Thursday, June 3, at 10 a.m. in Beckman Auditorium. That day 242 staff members will be honored for their 4,070 collective years of service. 

The search for gravitational waves has revealed new information about the core of one of the most famous objects in the sky: the Crab Pulsar in the Crab Nebula. An analysis by the international LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) Scientific Collaboration to be submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters has shown that no more than 4 percent of the energy loss of the pulsar is caused by the emission of gravitational waves.