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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.org
Our fourth observing run (O4) has seen our detectors perform better than ever before. Together with @egovirgo.bsky.social and KAGRA we have identified more gravitational-wave candidates than in all previous observing runs combined

#O4IsHere 🔭⚛️🧪
A cumulative detection plot, including significant candidate events from O4a, O4b, and O4c. There were a totla of 3 probable canddiates following O1, 11 following O2, 90 following O3, and 218 following O4a. There were 165 significant candidates in O4b and 68 in O4c. The total is almost 400. From O1 through O4a, the counts refer to the detected gravitational-wave events that are included in the GWTC papers. In contrast, the counts for O4b and O4c refer to candidate events for which a significant low-latency alert was issued and that were not subsequently retracted. The O4c data collection period is divided into two segments: January 28 April 1, 2025 and June 11 November 18, 2025. These segments are distinguished in the figure by different fill colors: the first is represented in dark blue, and the second in light blue. The intervening gap is omitted from the figure.
November 19, 2025 at 8:28 PM
ligo.org
Our Rapid Response Teams celebrate the end of our fourth observing run. Well done everyone!

www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo202...

O4 was a success thanks to lots of hard work from across the world.

🔭⚛️🧪
In Japan, KAGRA staff gathered in the control room to celebrate the end of O4. This was the first run that KAGRA took science data simultaneously with Virgo and LIGO. Staff at LIGO Livingston Observatory in Louisiana gathered in the control room to say farewell to O4 In Italy, Virgo staff gathered in the control room to celebrate the end of O4. Staff at LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington State gathered in the control room at 8am to celebrate the end of O4. Everyone enjoyed morning coffee and cake.
November 19, 2025 at 12:19 PM
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
To convert 15:00 UTC to your timezone you can use www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/c...
Time Zone Converter – Time Difference Calculator
Find the exact time difference with the Time Zone Converter – Time Difference Calculator which converts the time difference between places and time zones all over the world.
www.timeanddate.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM
ligo.org
Not Their First Rodeo: Gravitational Wave Detectors Spot Merging Black Holes That Have Merged Before

aasnova.org/2025/10/28/n... by Kerry Hensley

@aasnova.org report on our discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110

🔭☄️🧪⚛️
Not Their First Rodeo: Gravitational Wave Detectors Spot Merging Black Holes That Have Merged Before
The gravitational wave events GW241011 and GW241110 provide strong evidence for the growth of black holes through successive mergers.
aasnova.org
November 5, 2025 at 9:55 AM
ligo.org
Our #GW241011 and #GW241110 discovery paper is now on the arXiv

arxiv.org/abs/2510.26931

If you would like to catch up on the highlights, checkout out our Science Summary

ligo.org/science-summ...

🔭☄️⚛️🧪
Screenshot of the arXiv page GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring Binary Formation and Fundamental Physics with Asymmetric, High-Spin Black Hole Coalescence We report the observation of gravitational waves from two binary black hole coalescences during the fourth observing run of the LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA detector network, GW241011 and GW241110. The sources of these two signals are characterized by rapid and precisely measured primary spins, non-negligible spin--orbit misalignment, and unequal mass ratios between their constituent black holes. These properties are characteristic of binaries in which the more massive object was itself formed from a previous binary black hole merger, and suggest that the sources of GW241011 and GW241110 may have formed in dense stellar environments in which repeated mergers can take place. As the third loudest gravitational-wave event published to date, with a median network signal-to-noise ratio of 36.0, GW241011 furthermore yields stringent constraints on the Kerr nature of black holes, the multipolar structure of gravitational-wave generation, and the existence of ultralight bosons within the mass range 10−13--10−12 eV. arXiv:2510.26931 [astro-ph.HE]
November 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
ligo.org
Data for #GW241011 and #GW241110 are available to analyze from the Gravitaitonal Wave Open Science Center

doi.org/10.7935/3drz...
doi.org/10.7935/46xh...

You can find lots of tutorials there too!

gwosc.org/tutorials/

#OpenScience #OpenData 🧪🔭☄️⚛️
The gravitational wave signals: the amplitude of the data over time in a combination of the LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston and Virgo detectors for GW241011 (left; Hanford and Virgo) and GW241110 (right; Hanford and Livingston). The merger time of the events is at time = 0.
November 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
ligo.org
Our new paper on our LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110 is now published

doi.org/10.3847/2041...

These observations can tell us about the astrophysics of binary formation and test fundamental physics

#O4IsHere #GW10Years
Plots showing how the new detection compare to our previous observations. The top panel shows all the events from the LVK’s most recently published catalog, GWTC-4.0, and our two new events GW241011 and GW241110 ordered by the primary spin projected in the direction of the spin of the orbital plane — in other words, how aligned the primary black hole’s spin direction is with the binary system’s orbit direction. Values greater than zero means the black hole is aligned with the spin of the orbit, whereas less than zero means the system is anti-aligned. The bottom panel shows the distribution of primary mass (the mass of the larger black hole) in solar masses and the mass ratio of the black hole pair for all events from GWTC-4.0 including our new events.
October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
ligo.org
We would usually consider them as travelling waves
September 29, 2025 at 10:07 AM