Armagh Observatory & Planetarium helps develop groundbreaking new telescope

An international collaboration of ten partners, including Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, has developed an innovative new telescope.

Made up of two identical arrays on opposite sides of the planet, this telescope will track down sources of gravitational waves such as merging Neutron Stars and Black Holes.

The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) will help shepherd in a new era of gravitational wave science.

With sites in the Canaries and Australia it will fully cover and map the skies for optical clues about the violent cosmic events that create ripples in the fabric of space itself.

GOTO began when the UK’s University of Warwick and Australia’s Monash University wanted to address the gap between gravitational wave detectors and electromagnetic signals.

Now the international collaboration has ten partners, six of which are in the UK.

- Armagh Observatory and Planetarium

- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain

- Monash University, Australia

- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand

- University of Leicester

- University of Manchester

- University of Portsmouth

- University of Sheffield

- University of Turku, Finland

- University of Warwick

GOTO will act as sort of intermediary, which detect the presence of a gravitational wave event, and more targetable multi-wavelength observatories that can study the event’s optical source.

Dr Gavin Ramsay, who leads Armagh Observatory and Planetarium’s involvement in GOTO, says “It has taken many years to get to this point, so it’s a mixture of excitement and trepidation as we move into the next phase of the project. We’ve had a pandemic and a Volcanic eruption on La Palma, which has slowed us down, but we expect both sites to be ready when the next LIGO observations start early next year.

“Being active partners in international projects such as GOTO is very much part of the heritage and fabric of Armagh which goes back to the 1950’s when the Armagh-Dunsink-Harvard telescope was built in South Africa.”

Professor Danny Steeghs of the University of Warwick, GOTO’s Principal Investigator, explains: “If the gravitational wave observatories are the ears, picking up the sounds of the events, and the telescopes are the eyes, ready to view the event in all the wavelengths, then GOTO is the bit in the middle, telling the eyes where to look.”

To find out more about Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, visit www.armagh.space

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