LIGO Hanford Observatory
The LIGO Livingston control room as it was during Advanced LIGO's first observing run (O1)
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| Alternative names | Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory |
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| Location(s) |
Hanford Site  , United States of America
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| Coordinates | LIGO Hanford Observatory: 46°27′18.52″N 119°24′27.56″W / 46.4551444°N 119.4076556°W LIGO Livingston Observatory: 30°33′46.42″N 90°46′27.27″W / 30.5628944°N 90.7742417°W |
| Organization |
LIGO Scientific Collaboration
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| Wavelength | 43–10000 km (frequency 30–7000 Hz) |
| Built | 1994–2002 |
| First light | 23 August 2002
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| Telescope style |
gravitational-wave detector, facility
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| Length | 4,000 m (13,123 ft 4 in) |
| Focal length | 4000 m |
| Website | www |
 Location of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory
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The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry.
The initial LIGO observatories were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT. They collected data from 2002 to 2010 but no gravitational waves were detected.
The Advanced LIGO Project to enhance the original LIGO detectors began in 2008 and continues to be supported by the NSF, with important contributions from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Max Planck Society of Germany, and the Australian Research Council. The improved detectors began operation in 2015. The detection of gravitational waves was reported in 2016 by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration with the international participation of scientists from several universities and research institutions. Scientists involved in the project and the analysis of the data for gravitational-wave astronomy are organised by the LSC, which includes more than 1000 scientists worldwide, as well as 440,000 active Einstein@Home users as of December 2016[update].
LIGO is the largest and most ambitious project ever funded by the NSF.
The LIGO concept built upon early work by many scientists to test a component of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, the existence of gravitational waves. Starting in the 1960s, American scientists including Joseph Weber, as well as Soviet scientists and , conceived of basic ideas and prototypes of laser interferometry, and in 1967 Rainer Weiss of MIT published an analysis of interferometer use and initiated the construction of a prototype with military funding, but it was terminated before it could become operational. Starting in 1968, Kip Thorne initiated theoretical efforts on gravitational waves and their sources at Caltech, and was convinced that gravitational wave detection would eventually succeed.
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