Hero photograph
Otago University Physics
 
Photo by Frankie Vella

Otago University Physics – more LIGO talk and experiments.

Graham Prime —

In June Senior Physics students and students from the Science Club enjoyed a lively talk and discussion about the LIGO project based in the USA, which is able to detect and measure Gravitational waves.

As well as hearing about the latest results from LIGO, we listened to and watched a recording of two neutron stars colliding 1.3 billion years ago, from the gravitational wave data. 

Helped by Dr Eyal Schwartz and Dr Esther Haines from the University of Otago, Department of Physics, who brought in sets of lasers, beam splitters and interferometers to demonstrate the concept, our students set up their own mini-LIGO experiments to model the real research. 

It was a fascinating and very informative session, finishing with some very interesting and thoughtful questions from the students.