“BlackGEM Telescope Begins Scanning for Gravitational Waves in Chile”

SPACE — Scientists have additional instruments to study gravitational waves. The new BlackGEM telescopic array at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) La Silla Observatory in Chile has officially begun scanning the southern sky. This observatory searches for the source of gravitational waves.

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time caused by violent and energetic space phenomena. Gravitational waves can be caused by the collision of black holes or neutron stars, or by massive stars exploding as supernovas at the end of their lives.

Previously, there had been an observatory dedicated to searching for gravitational waves. The observatories are the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo Interferometer.

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Interferometers combine two or more light sources to create an interference pattern, which can be measured and analyzed. However, LIGO and Virgo were unable to pinpoint the origin of gravitational waves or see the light emanating from colliding neutron stars or black holes.

That’s where the function of BlackGEM. BlackGEM can detect gravitational waves and visible light from gravitational wave events and uses that information to pinpoint the exact location of the wave sources.

Using visible light also means that BlackGEM can obtain detailed observations of processes such as the formation of heavy elements such as gold and platinum from these interstellar collisions.

“With BlackGEM, we want to enhance the study of cosmic events with gravitational waves and visible light,” said Paul Groot of Radboud University in the Netherlands, principal investigator on the project. New Atlas.

The BlackGEM array consists of three telescopes built by Radboud University, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy, and KU Leuven in Belgium. Each telescope is 65 cm in diameter and can simultaneously scan different parts of the sky. There are plans to expand the array to 15 telescopes.

This telescope is relatively small, but it can observe a lot due to its location. The telescope will be placed at an altitude of 2.4 km on the outskirts of Chile’s Atacama Desert.

“Although the main mirror is 65 centimeters, we are working on several projects with much larger mirrors, because we take full advantage of the excellent observing conditions in La Silla,” said Groot.

Once BlackGEM identifies the source of the gravitational waves, the information will be sent to larger telescopes such as ESO’s Very Large Telescope, which is also located in the Atacama Desert.

In addition to searching for the source of gravitational waves, BlackGEM will keep an eye on short-term astronomical events such as supernovas.