@lisacommunity
First gravitational wave observatory in space. 3 satellites flying in triangle formation connected by 2.5 million km laser beams. An ESA mission with international participation including from NASA. Launch in the 2030s.
✨LISA Pathfinder officially began its science operations phase 10 years ago. Data collection continued through mid-June, followed by the start of science operations for NASA’s Disturbance Reduction System.
🛰️See LISA Pathfinder's journey here: youtu.be/GM8ZGJm-S7s?...
#LPF10anniversary #LISAmission
How can we best observe the most compact binaries with orbital periods as short as a few minutes, close to their final merger? They are strong supernova Ia progenitor candidates crucial to cosmology and are the strongest Galactic gravitational wave sources in the @lisacommunity.bsky.social regime 🔭
Professor Cruise played a leading role in the development of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission and was instrumental in strengthening the United Kingdom’s contribution to this landmark international endeavour. A distinguished scientist devoted to fundamental research, he made significant contributions to gravitational wave science and to the advancement of space instrumentation. An accomplished educator and advocate of knowledge transfer, Professor Cruise authored the respected textbook The Principles of Space Instrument Design and mentored generations of students and researchers. Even after formally retiring from the University of Birmingham in 2012, he remained actively engaged with ESA, the RAS, the UK Space Agency, and the wider gravitational wave community.
We mourn the passing of Professor Mike Cruise, who has died at the age of 78. The LISA Consortium extends its sincere condolences to Professor Cruise’s family, friends, and colleagues. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
Webinar GWTC-4.0: Methods for Identifying and Characterizing Gravitational-wave Transients 19 February 2026 from 15:00 UTC Background image: An artistic representation of a binary black hole merger by Aurore Simonnet
Our next LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA webinar will introduce the analysis methods used for our #GWTC4 results (paper arxiv.org/abs/2508.18081)
19 February at 15:00 UTC, with the recording on YouTube after
Register for free wisconsin-edu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
🔭 ☄️ ⚛️ 🧪
We would recommend checking the individual credits, as sources may vary depending upon which group within LIGO created the image.
10 years ago, the two LISA Pathfinder test masses were successfully released into free-fall
The release was a very delicate operation, and the technology required a great deal of research and design, so everyone was anxious!
youtu.be/wUZ81wItsZI?...
#LPF10anniversary #LISAMission 🔭🛰️
We're looking forward to finding them!
Artist’s impression of two neutron stars spiralling towards each other just before merging. The collision of these dense, compact objects produces gravitational waves – fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime.
Gravitational waves constantly cross our Solar System.
They travel in the fabric of spacetime, and, until recently, they did so undetected.
But advances in technology have made measurements possible on the ground and, with our upcoming LISA mission, from space too 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭
What an exciting day for #GravitationalWaves!
Congratulations on an amazing decade of discovery!
@ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA
#GW10Years
It has been a busy first decade for gravitational-wave astronomy
Here is to another decade of discoveries!
#GW10Years
Seven women. Seven careers. Seven pieces of advice.
For #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience we’re celebrating the voices and wisdom of women shaping science and technology across Europe. #IDWGS #WomenInSTEM
www.youtube.com/shorts/BNk-b...
Happy #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience! We are happy to share this online symposium organised by LIGO-India highlighting contributions from female scientists to our field of gravitational-wave astronomy
indico.global/e/glorious-w...
🔭☄️👩💻
Still exciting today!
10 years ago today, we told the world
"We have detected gravitational waves. We did it!"
Relive the moment we shared our result with the world www.youtube.com/live/aEPIwEJ...
#GW10Years #OTD 🔭🧪⚛️ 🎂
10 years ago we were all waiting to learn what @ligo.org and @egovirgo.bsky.social would announce!
#GW10Years
On my way to Boise to do some talks about LISA and gravitational waves. Did an interview this week with Idaho Matters on Idaho Public Radio about what we are going to talk about! Give it a listen! www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/idaho-m...
An illustration showing two people against a merging binary system with gravitational waves shown as orange swirls. One person the figure of a woman dancing, the other is the figure of a man in a lab coat. Musical notes surround. The text on the image reads "The sound of gravitational waves February 11th 2026 MAC Hexagon Theatre Cannon Hill Music & Science"
If you are in Birmingham (UK) next week you might be interested in an evening of music & talks in celebration of 10 years of #GravitationalWave detection!
Find out more: thesoundofgravitationalwaves.my.canva.site
Tickets: www.tickettailor.com/events/gravi...
🗺️ Midlands Arts Centre
🗓️ 11th Feb 2026
Thank you Astrobot!
Thank you Astrobot
LISA is a ESA-led space-based gravitational-wave observatory
yes
@bot.astronomy.blue signup
Engineers & scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, completed tests this month on a second early version of a key element of the upcoming LISA mission.
Read all about it 👉 science.nasa.gov/missions/lis...
Multimedia 👉 svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14955
>> This gives us a more physically accurate description of how black holes move, or kick, after they merge, and how these new compact objects effect the AGN disk over the course of its lifetime."
>> My project focuses on upgrading the black hole merger processes for McFACTS by implementing a numerical relativity surrogate model that solves Einsteins complex equations in a fast and accurate way. >>
Here's a summary of the paper:
"Monte carlo For AGN Channel Testing and Simulation (McFACTS) is a new population synthesis code for simulating binary black hole mergers inside of active galactic nuclei (AGN) disks that are detectable by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) observatories. >>
#LISACommunityTalks
The #LISACommunity recently hosted a talk by Shawn Ray on a paper by Shawn Ray, Keefe Mitman, Emily McPike, Barry McKernan, K.E. Saavik Ford: "Spinning and Kicking New Remnants: Considering Surrogate Models for McFACTS Merger Dynamics", for which a paper will be coming soon!
In his free time, Neil takes advantage of his living in Montana and does a lot of hiking, skiing and hunting. He loves to cook, he's into wine and also runs a private saloon.
#HumansOfLISA #HumansOfLST
🎤 How did you get interested in LISA or science?
"I heard a talk by Bill Folkner on LISA at a Pacific Coast Gravity meeting at Caltech when I was a graduate student and I thought it was the craziest thing I had ever heard."
#HumansOfLISA #HumansOfLST
🎤 What are you most excited for about LISA?
"Discovering unexpected phenomena and previously unimagined astrophysical objects."
#HumansOfLISA #HumansOfLST