LIGO Gravitational Wave Detector

LIGO Gravitational Wave Detector detects spacetime distortions smaller than one ten-thousandth the diameter of a proton, using twin 4-kilometer laser interferometers in Louisiana and Washington. Its 2015 observation of merging black holes 1.3 billion light-years away was 30% more sensitive than the average interferometer, snatching a new window on the universe that outperforms #4 Electron Microscope at cosmic scales. Each event yields masses 30 times solar, measured with a 20% uncertainty, and the facility has logged 90 gravitational-wave events. This data-led precision has enabled tests of general relativity 100 times more stringent than any previous experiment.