Physicist, motorcyclist, bagpiper, marathon runner, blogger, open access editor. Horace Hearne Chair in Theoretical Physics at the Louisiana State University.
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ALT Infographic about GW241011 and GW241110 GW241011's source contained black holes about 13 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the bigger black hole is high and bear aligned with the orbit. GW241110's source contained black holes about 17 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the larger black hole is high and near anti-aligned with the orbit. Credit: Shanika Galaudage/Northwestern University/Adler Planetarium
ALT A cumulative detection plot, including significant candidate events from O4a, O4b, and O4c. There were a totla of 3 probable canddiates following O1, 11 following O2, 90 following O3, and 218 following O4a. There were 165 significant candidates in O4b and 68 in O4c. The total is almost 400. From O1 through O4a, the counts refer to the detected gravitational-wave events that are included in the GWTC papers. In contrast, the counts for O4b and O4c refer to candidate events for which a significant low-latency alert was issued and that were not subsequently retracted. The O4c data collection period is divided into two segments: January 28 April 1, 2025 and June 11 November 18, 2025. These segments are distinguished in the figure by different fill colors: the first is represented in dark blue, and the second in light blue. The intervening gap is omitted from the figure.
ALT In Japan, KAGRA staff gathered in the control room to celebrate the end of O4. This was the first run that KAGRA took science data simultaneously with Virgo and LIGO.
ALT Staff at LIGO Livingston Observatory in Louisiana gathered in the control room to say farewell to O4
ALT In Italy, Virgo staff gathered in the control room to celebrate the end of O4.
ALT Staff at LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington State gathered in the control room at 8am to celebrate the end of O4. Everyone enjoyed morning coffee and cake.
ALT Cover image for the LIGO Magazine: "10 years of gravitational wave astronomy" showing data for GW150914 and GW231123
ALT A photo of Gaby Gonzalez and Fulvio Ricci, the spokespersons at the time, cutting a celebratory cake in 2016. The cake has an artistic image of a binary black hole upon it. It was delicious!
ALT Les Guthman and his video crew at the LIGO Livingston Observatory on Sept 13, 2015, interviewing Dr. Gabriela Gonzalez. 12 hours later, LIGO made the Nobel Prize winning discovery of gravitational waves.
ALT An artist’s rendering of GW250114, a collision between two black holes observed in gravitational waves by LIGO. It depicts the view from one of the black holes as it spirals toward its partner, with a swirl of yellow, green, blue, and purple streaks along the spiral’s path.
ALT Artist's concept of the inspiral, merger, and ringdown of a pair of black holes and resulting gravitational wave signal.