Answering the Big Questions

Big science is rolling along all over the place. In Germany, scientists have brought the laser-based GEO 600 laboratory online to detect gravitational waves. Part of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration, the interferometric detector consists of two 600 m arms set at 90° to one another.

Meanwhile, in Delta, UT, the Telescope Array, a cosmic ray observatory, is taking shape. So far, 250 scintillation detectors have been put in place, part of an eventual 564-detector array that will cover a 400 sq. mi area. Fluorescence detectors will monitor the sky for the UV signals generated when cosmic rays impact nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere. A joint U.S.-Japan effort, the observatory is slated to be running by late summer 2007 and operate for as long as 10 years.