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Out of context: Reply #679
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- sarahfailin0
So with LIGO they spent $620 million total to build and upgrade the thing to make this observation of gravitational waves.
I was about to write that there's no practical application for this observation, but after a little more reading, I'm understanding that this is the beginning of a whole new field of astronomy-- gravitational astronomy.
This first observation of gravitational waves is really only the first successful application of the first-generation gravitational detector, LIGO. The Einstein Telescope is a Third Generation gravitational wave detector still in the design phase. Could actually be really useful for observing different kinds of objects in distant space.