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Finally... this month, Virgo and LIGO look for gravitational waves together (they started yesterday). The Virgo detector is a bit less sensitive than the LIGO detectors at the moment, but it is still a big improvement:
They will run together for just this month. An event this month is certainly possible, but not guaranteed. Let's hope for the best. Afterwards all three detectors will work to improve their sensitivity for the next observation run in fall 2018.
Article at sciencenews.org*personal remark: I'm sure some Danish people will still be surprised that the templates never fit exactly, and write lengthy papers about this.
- It is an independent experiment, on a different continent run by different people. A simultaneous detection in all three detectors should remove any remaining doubt on the previous discoveries*.
- Triangulation of the source needs three detectors. The position estimates will be much more accurate, so it gets easier to look for corresponding signals in the electromagnetic spectrum.
- The third detector can also give polarization information, that helps constraining more parameters of the source.
They will run together for just this month. An event this month is certainly possible, but not guaranteed. Let's hope for the best. Afterwards all three detectors will work to improve their sensitivity for the next observation run in fall 2018.
Article at sciencenews.org*personal remark: I'm sure some Danish people will still be surprised that the templates never fit exactly, and write lengthy papers about this.