Astrophiz 119: Dr Fiona Panther ~ Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Dr Fiona Panther is a gravitational wave astronomer and OzGrav postdoctoral researcher at the University of Western Australia. As this new era is now upon us with gravitational wave astronomy, we are very privileged to get the full inside story from a most passionate researcher working on the front edge of GW astronomy. With amazing clarity and unbridled enthusiasm, Fiona tells us all about the early predictions of gravitational waves as derived from Einstein’s famous relativity equations, the LIGO and Virgo interferometry instruments that have been successfully designed and constructed to detect gravitational waves, the extraordinary explosive events that trigger the production of gravitational waves and the 50 or so subsequent confirmed detections of GW. Then we are invited to put our propeller hats on and hear and understand some of the detail of how gravitational wave astronomy is conducted worldwide now in the 2020’s, and then beyond with the scheduling of space bound instruments. Then Fiona ties it all together with the big picture of some of the places that GW astronomy research will be taking us to in the future. Enjoy!