Virgo Joins LIGO for Observational Run 2 (O2)

Virgo Collaboration, the European gravitational-wave collaboration has announced that its detector, located in Cascina, Italy, joined the Observational Run 2 (O2) today at 11:00 CET. An observational run is a period of data collection; the current, second run started on Nov 30, 2016 and will end on August 25, 2017.

Today marks the 1st time another project has joined Advanced LIGO in a search. Even though Virgo's sensitivity is below LIGO's at this time, it could be sufficient for confirming a potential detection should it happen, and pinpointing its sky location with greater accuracy than would be possible with just 2 LIGO detectors. After O2 is over, Virgo will begin upgrades intended to further improve its sensitivity, with the goal of completing them by the next observing run, scheduled in Fall 2018.

Read the official press release at the Virgo website

Images credit: Virgo Collaboration