LIGO Detects Another Deep Space Black Hole Event
Listen
Scientists in southeast Washington state announced Wednesday that they had detected two black holes revolving around each other and then morphing into one.
The two colliding black holes made a distortion in space that traveled for billions of years to get here—and shuddered through Earth.
The discovery was made by an observatory at Hanford run by Caltech and MIT called LIGO. The Hanford station detected this event along with stations in Louisiana and Italy. Having all three sites see the same thing, is important because it also allows the scientists to triangulate where the waves are happening in space.
LIGO in Richland is a laboratory that uses carefully-calibrated instruments to study deep space. It features two vacuum tunnels that stretch more than two miles. A powerful laser is run down the tubes. When the length of the L-shaped arms changes, scientists can detect the gravitational waves.
The observatory broke ground in 1995, but only recently has detected these gravitational waves. This is the fourth time scientists have announced a finding in just over 18 months.
9(MDAyOTk4OTc0MDEyNzcxNDIzMTZjM2E3Zg004))
Related Stories:
Man sentenced for crash that killed 3 women, 2 from Washington state
A man who killed three people while driving drunk, including two from the eastern Washington town of Clarkston, will serve 22 years in prison.
Workers at PeaceHealth feel their access to health care is limited with new insurer
When employees at PeaceHealth hospitals around the state need a prescription filled for themselves or a family member, they can get them filled at PeaceHealth pharmacies for lower costs. It’s one of the benefits of the health care organization’s insurance plan for its employees.
But in Bellingham, Washington, PeaceHealth workers can’t use that benefit. There isn’t a physical PeaceHealth pharmacy in the city.
Project 2025 and Hanford: What Trump’s second term could mean for WA’s toxic sludge
A gate and signs stand guard at one of the Hanford site’s tank farms. (Credit: Anna King / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 4:02) Read By Anna King and Jeanie Lindsay Traffic
