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Measuring the "Dark Matter" Of The Universe

Posted Jun 27, 2006 at 03:52PM by KJM Listed in: News, Astrophysics, Space Exploration, Space Missions Tags: California, LIGO
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LIGO


As objects in the universe push and pull against each other, spinning, orbiting, grazing and even (occasionally) colliding, they give off huge gravitational waves. Fred Raab, head of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in southeastern Washington State, plans to observe those waves as they crash against our terrestrial shores.

Raab says that since the invention of the telescope in the early 1600's, we've seen only "a small portion of what exists." He believes that LIGO can show us everything else.

Kip Thorne, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, adds, "[LIGO] gives us an observational tool to probe the dark, strong-gravity part of the universe, which we've never really done."

Instead of observing light or radio waves or X-Rays directly, LIGO "feels" these things by measuring gravitational waves that ripple like water across a pond. The advantage here is that unlike light waves - which bounce off or can be blocked by solid objects - gravitational waves go through everything.

The ability to observe and measure these gravitational waves could very well change our entire understanding of the universe.

[Via SF Gate] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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