The new telescope will be the first to search for colliding black holes and neutron stars in an attempt to find the source of gravitational waves.
gravitational wavesripples in space-time from the most energetic collisions known UniverseIt was first discovered in 2015 by Gravity Wave Laser Interferometer (LEGO). So far, tracing the source of this wave is difficult.
Scientists liken the detection of gravitational waves to feeling the vibrations of the road surface as a truck passes, but they can’t actually see the truck. It is almost impossible to know where to look with optical telescopes to find the source of these vibrations in the vast universe. The new telescope, called the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), aims to change that.
“There is a worldwide fleet of telescopes available to look up into the sky when gravitational waves are detected to learn more about their source,” Professor Danny Steigs, Head of Astronomy at the University of Warwick in the UK and Principal Investigator from GOTO, said in a statement. statement (Opens in a new tab). “But because gravitational wave detectors can’t pinpoint the source of the ripples, this telescope doesn’t know where to look.”
Related: How future gravitational wave detectors in space will reveal more about the universe
In collaboration with LIGO and other gravitational wave observatories such as the European Gravity Wave Observatory, GOTO will survey the entire sky from locations in the northern and southern hemispheres every few days.
Using advanced algorithms, the telescope’s computer will analyze the image to look for sudden and intense brightnesses in certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such brightness can be caused by the collision of the most massive objects in the universe, black hole And bintang neutron. Neutron stars are remnants Supernova Explosions where giant stars die. The eruption left a very dense remnant that may not exceed a few miles in width but contain a mass greater than the entire mass sun.
Despite the extreme activity, eruptions from these cosmic giant collisions are also very temporary, which makes searching after the discovery of gravitational waves difficult.
By pairing gravitational ripple detection with GOTO’s rapidly processed images, astronomers will know where to point other, more powerful telescopes to study catastrophic events in greater detail.
“[GOTO] It has always been envisioned to be … an array of wide-field optical telescopes at at least two locations so that it can patrol and search the optical sky regularly and rapidly.”
“This will allow GOTO to provide this much-needed link, to provide a target for larger telescopes to aim for.”
GOTO was developed by a team of researchers at Australian and British universities. The first set, located at an observatory at La Palma in the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa, was recently tested. The automatic observatory consists of 16 separate 16-inch (40 centimeters) telescopes grouped into two arrays that share a resolution of 800 million pixels, the researchers said in the statement. A similar set will soon be deployed at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory near Sydney.
The telescope must be ready for Next LIGO Observation Path, which is planned to start next year. Since the early detection of gravitational waves in 2015, LIGO engineers have increased the sensitivity of the instrument and are now expected to detect gravitational waves from merging neutron stars 522 million to 620 million away. light year from the earth. Bigger and more violent events, such as black hole collisions and merging, must be visible to LIGO from greater distances.
If astronomers can find the source of this gravitational wave signal, the researchers say, they can find the source, measure its distance, and study its evolution.
“The hope is to catch up to the event quickly, and then follow it as it fades, and also to trigger an alert for other, larger telescopes so they can all gather more information and we can build a very detailed picture of this astronomy. phenomenon,” said Steeghs. “This is a very dynamic and exciting time. In astronomy, we’re used to studying events that are millions of years old and aren’t going anywhere – it’s a very different, fast-paced way of working where every minute counts.”
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