Gravity wave observation facility “KAGRA” starts operation Gifu Hida Oct. 4 19:01
A facility “KAGRA” for observing “gravity waves” transmitted from space was completed in Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, and operation began on the 4th.
“KAGRA” is a 7-year-old location in Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, over 200 meters underground, trying to capture the “gravity waves” in which the distortion of the space is transmitted as waves when a massive object moves. It is a huge observation facility that has been under construction.
On the 4th, a ceremony was held to commemorate the start of operation, and Takaaki Hamada, Director of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research at the University of Tokyo, pressed the button to activate the device.
KAGRA is a shape in which two pipes with a length of 3 km are joined in an L shape. Laser light is emitted from the joints to the two pipes, and the light reflected by the mirror at the tip is observed. The
If the space is distorted by gravitational waves, the time until the laser beam returns will change.
“The future of astronomy starts observation with a new method called gravitational waves. I want to elucidate the appearance of the universe that can only be seen by gravitational waves.”
Gravity wave observation facility that is said to be able to approach the mystery of the birth of the universe, KAGRA is the fourth in the world, the mirror that reflects the laser light is cooled to about 250 degrees below the freezing point to suppress the generation of noise This is a unique feature.