Wycombe Astronomy Society (WAS)
What's On
If you are not a member of Wycombe Astronomical Society,
you are welcome to attend any of our meetings on a trial basis and with no charge.
Our hope is, therefore, to encouraging new members to join our Society.
Wed 17 Apr
|Coleshill Village Hall
Lecture - Professor Bob Lambourne - Recent Development in Gravitational Waves
Time & Location
17 Apr 2024, 20:00 – 22:00
Coleshill Village Hall, Barracks Hill, Amersham, Coleshill, Amersham HP7 0LN, UK
About the Event
The direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 opened a new window on the universe.
I gave WAS a talk about that event after the discoverers were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. As expected, much has happened since then, including COVID, so this is a good time for an update about what astronomers have learned so far using gravitational waves, and what we expect to learn in the near future.
In this new talk I shall reintroduce Einstein’s theory of gravity and his prediction of gravitational waves. I shall briefly recap the initial detection and then examine more recent developments. Particular emphasis will be given to the latest developments in gravitational wave detectors, binary black hole detections, the discovery of the gravitational wave background radiation (announced in 2023), and the recent go ahead given to LISA, an ambitious Laser Interferometer Space Antenna involving three synchronized satellites that should allow…