> LIGO can't point to specific locations in space
Since LIGO doesn’t need to collect light from stars or other objects or regions in space, it doesn't need to be round or dish-shaped like optical telescope mirrors or radio telescope dishes. Nor does it have to be steerable, i.e., able to move around to point in a specific direction. Instead, each LIGO detector consists of two 4 km (2.5 mi.) long, 1.2 m-wide steel vacuum tubes arranged in an "L" shape (LIGO's laser travels through these arms), and enclosed within a 10-foot wide, 12-foot tall concrete structure that protects the tubes from the environment.> A mirror at the vertex of the arms splits a single light beam into two, directing each beam down an arm of the instrument
Mirrors at the ends of the arms reflect the beams back to their origin point where they are recombined to create an interference pattern called 'fringe
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-ligo
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/ligos-ifo
No comments yet.