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LIGO Scientific Collaboration
@ligo.org
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Official account of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. We detect gravitational waves!

Email: [email protected]
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LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · Aug 26
Results from the first part of our fourth LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA observing run are out today!

We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars

📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082

🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
New masses in the stellar graveyard plot, showing astronomical observations of black holes and neutron stars. The number of gravitational-wave observations of black holes is overwhelming. The plot is arranged to look nice, the horizontal axis has no meaning, but the vertical one shows masses. We have a significant range of masses from about 1 solar mass to over 200 solar masses for our largest merger remnant. New out today is a neutron star black hole binary GW230518_125908, as well as a lot of binary black holes.
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
lesguthman.bsky.social
Sad but pleased to release today our homage to LIGO’s wonderful Rai Weiss, who passed away in September just shy of his 93rd birthday. It is Episode 10 of our 9-year @ligo.org YouTube video series. In our last interview, he insisted that @NSF “is the hero of LIGO.” 🧪
youtu.be/hsiyG6Y0t4M
EPISODE10 - "RAI WEISS: LIGO'S HEART AND SOUL
YouTube video by Advanced LIGO Documentary Project
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 4:56 PM
ligo.org
Our fourth LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA observing run has now drawn to a close. We will be busy analysing data for a while to come—watch out for more discovery announcements.

We will be back next year observing.docs.ligo.org/plan/
IGWN | Observing Plans
observing.docs.ligo.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
ligo.org
In half an hour!
ligo.org LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 9d
Our next webinar will introduce our latest #GWTC4 release and the associated data (papers arxiv.org/abs/2508.18080 and arxiv.org/abs/2508.18079)

Tomorrow at 15:00 UTC, with the recording on YouTube after

Free registration wisconsin-edu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

☄️🔭
GWTC-4.0 Introduction & Open Data Webinar 13 November 2025 Webinar live from 15:00 UTC
November 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
ligomagazine.bsky.social
In the latest edition of the #LIGOMagazine, Catalina Miritescu told us all about bringing #GravitationalWave noise hunting with @ligo.org[email protected] to the Romanian National Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad!

Read all about it at (pdf, page 38): ligo.org/wp-content/u...
A screenshot of LIGO Magazine article "From noise hunting to Olympiads" by Catalina Miritescu. The page shows the article title and a photo of the author. The image shows a plot produced by students as part of their Olympiad challenge. Image credit: Catalina Miritescu.
November 13, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
egovirgo.bsky.social
LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA constantly battle with quantum effects on their mirrors (objects weighing more than 40 kg!), such as quantum radiation pressure noise, that is, fluctuations of the laser field that causes the mirrors to jitter.
October 8, 2025 at 7:50 AM
ligo.org
Our next webinar will introduce our latest #GWTC4 release and the associated data (papers arxiv.org/abs/2508.18080 and arxiv.org/abs/2508.18079)

Tomorrow at 15:00 UTC, with the recording on YouTube after

Free registration wisconsin-edu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

☄️🔭
GWTC-4.0 Introduction & Open Data Webinar 13 November 2025 Webinar live from 15:00 UTC
November 12, 2025 at 11:09 AM
ligo.org
Congratulations to Patrick for being honored by the American Physical Society! Prof. Brady is a long-standing member of our collaboration and our former Spokersperson
dgrav.org APS Gravity—DGRAV @dgrav.org · 16d
Congratulations to Patrick R. Brady, of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, on being awarded the 2026 Richard A. Isaacson Award in Gravitational-Wave Science! His citation reads:

⚛️🧪 1/2
Headshot of Patrick Brady
November 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
jorgepullin.bsky.social
Built a bunch of aOSEMs (optical sensor and electromagnetic actuator) @LIGO - Livingston
November 4, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
ligo.org
🔭Our fourth observing run is due to end on November 18. However, we now expect to have a 6 month observing run in 2026–27 to begin in the late summer/early fall of 2026, with detectors participating as available

observing.docs.ligo.org/plan/

☄️🧪⚛️
IGWN | Observing Plans
observing.docs.ligo.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:59 AM
ligo.org
🔭Our fourth observing run is due to end on November 18. However, we now expect to have a 6 month observing run in 2026–27 to begin in the late summer/early fall of 2026, with detectors participating as available

observing.docs.ligo.org/plan/

☄️🧪⚛️
IGWN | Observing Plans
observing.docs.ligo.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:59 AM
ligo.org
A Halloween visitor!
jorgepullin.bsky.social jorgepullin.bsky.social @jorgepullin.bsky.social · 21d
Life in the jungle. Found a snake inside our cleanroom, fortunately a small one @LIGO - Livingston
October 31, 2025 at 8:57 PM
ligo.org
We are pleased to announce our discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110

Both come from binary black holes where one black hole is much larger than the other. The larger black holes have large spin. Could these black holes have formed in a previous merger?

ligo.org/science-summ...

#O4IsHere 🔭🧪⚛️☄️
Infographic about GW241011 and GW241110 GW241011's source contained black holes about 13 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the bigger black hole is high and bear aligned with the orbit. GW241110's source contained black holes about 17 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the larger black hole is high and near anti-aligned with the orbit. Credit: Shanika Galaudage/Northwestern University/Adler Planetarium
October 29, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
dgrav.org
Congratulations to Anamaria Effler, Sam Gralla, and Brian Lantz, who were elected Fellows of the APS, nominated by DGRAV!

1/3 🧪⚛️
Anamaria Effler Sam Gralla Brian Lantz
October 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
ligoindia.bsky.social
14th Sep was celebrated internationally by the international scientific community as the tenth anniversary of the first direct detection of #Gravitationalwaves. LIGO-India EPO joined the global celebration by organising a special event on this day
IUCAA, Pune
October 4, 2025 at 7:17 AM
ligo.org
Count down the top 10 breakthroughs in the 10 years since our first detection with @space.com. Do you agree with their picks?

www.space.com/astronomy/li... by @robleascijorno.bsky.social

#GW10Years 🔭 ⚛️ 🧪
Screenshot: 1. Proving Einstein right! The first gravitational wave detection. On Sept. 14, 2015, ripples in space-time washed over Earth that were generated by the merger of two black holes, each with a mass of around 30 times that of the sun. This signal, which would come to be known as GW150914 (GW for "gravitational wave" and the following numbers for the date of measurement), had been traveling to our planet for 1.4 billion years. GW150914's arrival and detection confirmed a theory that was first proposed a century earlier by arguably history's most famous physicist, Albert Einstein, in his 1915 theory of gravity, general relativity. Screenshot: 10. Proving Einstein ... wrong!?! The LIGO project operates two detector sites: one near Hanford in eastern Washington, and another near Livingston, Louisiana (shown here). The observatory has four kilometre arms, long concrete tubes surrounded by the greenery of Louisiana. The central building shines white in the middle of the picture. There is LIGO's Science Education Center there is you would like to visit.
September 29, 2025 at 10:06 AM
ligo.org
Yesterday's Astronomy Picture of the Day #APOD featured #GW250114! This artwork imagines the ultimate front-row seat as two black holes spiral together on their way toward producing the strongest gravitational-wave signal we've detected so far

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25092...

🎨A Simonnet 🔭🐚
This artwork imagines the ultimate front-row seat for GW250114, a powerful collision between two black holes observed in gravitational waves by the US National Science Foundation LIGO. It depicts the view from one of the black holes as it spirals toward its cosmic partner.
September 25, 2025 at 8:16 AM
ligo.org
Last Sunday was the 10th anniversary of our first #GravitationalWave detection!

Join us for a thread of celebratory cakes enjoyed by members of our collaboration

First, a cake from @ozgrav.bsky.social Looks like plenty to share?

🖼️: J Powell

🧵🎂 #GW10Years
A sheet cake decorated with "Happy 10 Birthday GW150914", confetti, balloons, a binary black hole, and the data from our first detection, as well as the OzGrav logo. It is edged with some creamy frosting.
September 19, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
lisacommunity.bsky.social
Looking for some more #GravitationalWave listening today?📻 Check out this podcast from The Naked Scientists, including interviews with Gaby González (@ligo.org) & @ithorpe.bsky.social from #LISA!

Find it at www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...
or wherever you listen to podcasts!

#GW10Years
September 19, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
cplberry.bsky.social
The Kerr solution is truly remarkable. A mathematical description of black holes with just two parameters—this would make black holes the simplest macroscopic objects in the Universe. And all our observations show that this does describe astrophysical black holes as far as we can tell

🔭⚛️🧪
ligo.org LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · Sep 11
Tests of general relativity and the nature of black hole with #GW250114 is out now

GW250114 is so loud, it sometimes provides tighter constraints than all of the signals in #GWTC4 combined

Learn about all the details in our science summary ligo.org/science-summ...

📔: arxiv.org/abs/2509.08099

🧪⚛️☄️
Measured 90% upper bounds on possible deviations from general relativity in the post-Newtonian expansion of the inspiral phase of the gravitational-wave signal. The post-Newtonian framework describes the inspiral phase as a series in powers of the binary’s orbital velocity (v/c), where c is the speed of light, with each coefficient predicted uniquely by general relativity. For the (v/c)¹ term, general relativity predicts the coefficient to be exactly zero, so the bound corresponds to an absolute deviation; for all other orders, bounds represent fractional deviations. The blue stars show the constraints measured from GW250114. For comparison, light red bands mark results from individual GWTC-4.0 signals, and red squares indicate combined catalog constraints from 17 events. Across all post-Newtonian orders, the measurements from GW250114 place upper bounds that are two to three times more stringent than those obtained by combining multiple events.
September 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
ligo.org
“With an idea that the impossible is often possible if you work hard at it. What we do here is thought to be impossible for many decades” Our own @giaime.net talks to @wafb.com about our 10th anniversary

www.wafb.com/2025/09/15/f... by Liam Combs

#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️
Federal cuts threaten research at observatory, a decade after historic discovery
President Trump’s federal budget proposal includes a 40% budget cut for LIGO
www.wafb.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
ligomagazine.bsky.social
And the other poster takes a look at @ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA and their science.

By Gwendolyn Krenkel (Artwork and Concept), Sascha Rieger/ Milde Marketing Science Comms.
Full resolution version at: dcc.ligo.org/G2501956/pub...

#GW10Years
"What is LIGO?" poster. The poster features a range of line drawings in blue and white explaining LIGO and its science. In each scene the character explains an aspect of LIGO or gravitational-wave science. The poster includes information including: LIGO has 4km long arms; the location of the LIGO instruments in Hanford and Livingston; the first detection happened in 2015; the other gravitational wave detectors are Virgo in Italy, KAGRA in Japan, GEO600 in Germany.
September 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
ligo.org
A decade of detecting gravitational waves: The Naked Scientists podcast catch up on the current status of gravitational-wave astronomy and future plans, including an interview with Prof. Gaby Gonzalez

www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...

#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️
A decade of detecting gravitational waves
To boldly LIGO...
www.thenakedscientists.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
ligo.org
During the recent LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA meeting, the 2024 winner of the LIGO Laboratory Award for Excellence in Detector Characterization and Calibration, Louis Dartez, received his honorary Calibration Wizard hat.

Congratulations to Dr. Dartez!

www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/award-e...
Louis Dartez receiving his LIGO Calibration Wizard hat at the September 2025 LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA meeting from Jess McIver. The hat is a traditional pointy blue hat, but is covered with images of lasers.
September 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
ligomagazine.bsky.social
As well as looking back at the last decade, we take a peak at some recent results with behind the scenes stories about the latest #GravitationalWave catalog with Lucy Thomas, @daniel-williams.co.uk and @michaelpuerrer.bsky.social

#GW10Years
#GWTC4
A page of LIGO Magazine article "GWTC-4.0 Catalog Paper". The page includes an image showing the gravitational wave observations so far which are indicated by circles at different distances from a central point signifying the Earth. Image created by: Derek Davis/Rhiannon Udall/Caltech/LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA The page also includes a photo of one of the authors, Lucy Thomas. A page of LIGO Magazine article about GWTC-4.0. The page includes a photo of one of the authors, Daniel Williams. A page of the LIGO Magazine article about GWTC-4.0. The image at the top of the page is called the "masses in the stellar graveyard plot". It summarises the gravitational wave observations of neutron stars and black holes so far. Each object is represented by a circle and they are ordered vertically by mass. The image is full of circles representing many observations. The horizontal arrangement is purely aesthetic and appears like the spread wings of a bird. Image credit: LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA/Aaron Geller/Northwestern. The page also shows a photo of one of the authors, Michael Pürrer. A page of the LIGO Magazine article about GWTC-4.0. The image at the top of the page shows an older version of the masses in the stellar graveyard plot from 2017. This older version has far fewer observations compared to the current version (described in another image within this post). Image credit: LIGO-Virgo/Frank Elaysky/Northwestern University.
September 15, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by LIGO Scientific Collaboration
drerinmac.bsky.social
This is a wonderful mini (< 10 min) documentary about @ligo.org and the first gravitational wave detection 10 (!) years ago, made by my former colleagues at @uofgravity.bsky.social.
I love the inclusion of all the broader scientific applications of the technology.

youtu.be/SqhFtkQ4f2c?...
University of Glasgow celebrates 10th anniversary of first gravitational wave detection
YouTube video by University of Glasgow
youtu.be
September 13, 2025 at 1:37 PM