| LIGO-India will help scientists better localize the cataclysmic mergers of neutron stars. The map on the right shows that two LIGO detectors can localize these events to within 100 to 1,000 square degrees of sky (the ‘bullseye' features in the map on the right show where two LIGO detectors could make the least-precise localizations on the sky). The map on the left shows that when you add in LIGO-India, a third detector, the localization improves to just 10 square degrees of sky. This reduces the area that astronomers need to search through to pinpoint the merger events. In actuality, with LIGO-India now approved for construction, there will be five gravitational-wave detectors working together in one network, further improving the localization of mergers: LIGO-India, LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston, Virgo, and KAGRA. For reference, a full moon is about 0.2 square degrees on the sky. |
