ABSTRACT

The era of Gravitational Wave Astronomy has begun. On Sept 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational radiation from the last moments of the merging of a Black Hole Binary system. The merger event included Black Holes of 36 and 29 solar masses and was about 1 billion light years from the Earth. I will describe the detection and its implications, as well as the incredible sensitivity of the LIGO detectors that made the detection possible. I will give some background on the notion of Black Holes since they were first predicted as a consequence of Einstein's theory of General Relativity in 1915. Finally, I will talk about Goddard's role going forward in this highly promising new field of astronomy.

About the Speaker:

Jordan Camp is a scientist in the Astrophysics Science Division and is the PI of the LIGO group at Goddard. Before coming to Goddard in 2002, he led the Laser and Optics Group of LIGO during the design and construction of its first detectors. He was appointed Deputy Project Scientist for the space-based gravitational wave mission LISA in 2005 and is now leading efforts at Goddard to capture the LISA laser, as well as a gravitational wave counterpart mission based on the so-called Lobster X-ray optic.