LIGO Detection (2017)

On September 14, 2015 the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington measured ripples in the fabric of spacetime - gravitational waves - generated by the merger of two massive black holes over one billion light years from Earth. This discovery is the culmination of decades of instrument research and development through a world-wide collaboration of more than one thousand researchers and scientists. It proves a prediction made by Einstein 100 years ago, is the first direct observation of black holes, and the beginning of a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy. Every day we read the headline news in which 'Scientist claim ...' and 'Scientist discover ...' and 'Scientists report ...' But what does it mean to make an extraordinary claim? In this, the 3rd film about LIGO, we investigate what unfolded between the incredible detection of merging black holes on September 14, and five months later, February 11, 2016 when LIGO announced this to the world.