Italy delays restart of its gravitational wave detector Virgo
After three years of upgrades, the engineers running Italy’s Virgo gravitational wave detector have decided to delay its restart later this month due to unexplained noise issues found inside some older components.
Getting to these parts to find the cause of the noise however will not be simple, as they are housed inside a vacuum chamber.
[According to Virgo spokesperson Gianluca Gemme. “Until we break the vacuum and open the towers to check the interferometer components directly, we cannot be one hundred percent sure what the problem is. … We therefore decided to take action now to resolve the technical issue that is slowing down the interferometer’s sensitivity growth. These are operations that, apart from the work we will have to do, involve time to remove and then restore the ultra-high vacuum conditions.
Once this work is completed it will then require further testing to make sure all is well. It is therefore unclear when Virgo will resume observations.
Meanwhile, the two detectors in the United States plan to resume operations as scheduled later this month. Without Virgo working in tandem, however, the resolution for any detections will be reduced.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
After three years of upgrades, the engineers running Italy’s Virgo gravitational wave detector have decided to delay its restart later this month due to unexplained noise issues found inside some older components.
Getting to these parts to find the cause of the noise however will not be simple, as they are housed inside a vacuum chamber.
[According to Virgo spokesperson Gianluca Gemme. “Until we break the vacuum and open the towers to check the interferometer components directly, we cannot be one hundred percent sure what the problem is. … We therefore decided to take action now to resolve the technical issue that is slowing down the interferometer’s sensitivity growth. These are operations that, apart from the work we will have to do, involve time to remove and then restore the ultra-high vacuum conditions.
Once this work is completed it will then require further testing to make sure all is well. It is therefore unclear when Virgo will resume observations.
Meanwhile, the two detectors in the United States plan to resume operations as scheduled later this month. Without Virgo working in tandem, however, the resolution for any detections will be reduced.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
If it was easy, and affordable, the planet would be covered by gravitational wave detectors; sorta like Tesla charging stations (Insert a chortle here).