Story perspectives

Autotune Calibration Revives LIGO, Marks Precision GW Era

5/13/2026

Summary

Story summary

Dr Christopher Berry and the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA teams created an Autotune-based calibration method that lets detectors hear black-hole collisions despite faults.
The method calibrated LIGO Hanford during a malfunction and enabled the September 25 2024 GW240925 detection of a 7-9-solar-mass merger a billion light-years away.
In February 2025, the calibrated system captured GW250207, a 30-35-solar-mass merger 600 million light-years away that Stephen Fairhurst said marks the shift to precision gravitational-wave astronomy.

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Story summary

Dr Christopher Berry and the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA teams created an Autotune-based calibration method that lets detectors hear black-hole collisions despite faults.
The method calibrated LIGO Hanford during a malfunction and enabled the September 25 2024 GW240925 detection of a 7-9-solar-mass merger a billion light-years away.
In February 2025, the calibrated system captured GW250207, a 30-35-solar-mass merger 600 million light-years away that Stephen Fairhurst said marks the shift to precision gravitational-wave astronomy.