The University’s Institute of Space Science and Astronomy, in collaboration with the Department of Physics, has entered into collaboration with the Einstein Telescope partnership.

The gravity wave telescope is still in the design phase but it already has a broad base of member institutions across Europe.

Gravity waves produce minute changes in the background fabric of the space and time around us. The most violent of these are emitted when major astrophysical events occur such as when binary black holes coalesce.

Gravity wave observatories detect such events by looking for these small changes in length. What is different about the Einstein telescope is that due to emerging quantum mechanical and seismic observation technologies its sensitivity range will be at the forefront in the field.

In addition to this the whole telescope will be built more than 100m underground to avoid noise disturbances.

The telescope design is expected to be completed by 2017 by which time a location is expected to be selected. The project is scheduled for completion by 2025.

The role of the institute is to contribute to the theoretical predictions part of the project.