YT2095 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 since the LIGO experiment wasn`t really a fantastic success (and probably cost Loads!), wouldn`t it have been cheaper (and probably more accurate) to have just exploited the mirrors on the Moon instead? the Orbital of the moon has been tracked using these for several decades now, and so a good mean avg can be plotted, and so any Significant Gravity spike would deviate from this avg and show up quite nicely. couple that with the fact that it`s 1/4 million miles away as opposed to a few 10`s of (virtual) miles as in LIGO, and you get a greater movement! any reason this wasn`t considered in the 1`st place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Probably accuracy, and you'd need to have the detectors in the right place at the right time to measure a large enough event... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 You also need two arms for an interferometer to work (since you are actually interfering the two laser beams). So unless you can come up with a second moon.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I don't think the motion of the moon is as precisely known or monitored, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 I thought the 2 arms were for giving a Direction (approx) that the Gravity wave came from (like an X and Y axis), I didn`t realise it was essential. Cheerz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The idea of the two arms is that they change relative lengths compared to one another. With no wave, the arms are the same length so the two laser beams remain in phase. When the wave passes through the arms are of a different length so the waves become out of phase. When you put them back together you will get an interference effect which is very very sensitive to the relative lengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 You also want a second system to make sure that an event is real, since the two systems should record the event separated in time. So we need even more moons. Assuming their motion allows the system to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 I`m guessing that using Satellites instead of Moons is a stupid idea then (else it would have been Done already) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I`m guessing that using Satellites instead of Moons is a stupid idea then (else it would have been Done already) ? Meet LISA http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120376_index_0_m.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 SWEET!!! maybe I`m NOT so crazy afterall, saved by a Super Sexy LISA! works for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cuthber Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I think the biggest problem with the moon is that things keep hitting it. Even a relatively small meteorite would jolt it enough to upset the measurements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 I expect something like that could be offset against seismic sensors though, enough to Nullify these spikes. (only a guess mind you) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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