The LISA mission consists of three spacecraft orbiting the Sun in a triangular configuration. The three satellites are separated by a distance of 2.5 Mio km.
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
Artist's impression of three LISA spacecrafts in a triangular configuration. The satellites are separated by a distance of 2.5 million km, connected by laser beams forming the arms of a high precision laser interferometer.
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
Artist's impression of Micronewton thrusters used on an LISA satellite
Media Description: To establish drag-free operation, a housing around the test mass senses the relative position of test mass and spacecraft, and a control system commands the spacecraft’s thrusters to follow the free-falling mass.
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
A LISA satellite with the sun.
Media Description: Artist's impression of a LISA spacecraft. The LISA mission consists of three satellites orbiting the Sun in a triangular configuration.
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
A Satellite of the LISA-Mission
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
A Satellite of the LISA-Mission
Media Description:
The proposed LISA mission will detect gravitational waves in space using a trio of satellites, separated by millions of kilometers. Lasers will be employed to measure the minute changes in their relative distance induced by impinging gravitational waves
© AEI/MM/exozet; GW simulation: NASA/C. Henze
Artist's impression of a LISA spacecraft
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
A view of a LISA sciencecraft being illuminated by the laser from another LISA sciencecraft.
© AEI/Milde Science Communication/exozet
Artist's impression of a LISA instrument.
© Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) / Milde Marketing Science Communication / Exozet Effects
Visualisation of gravitational waves from a massive black hole binary merger.
A visualisation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger. The two black holes are shown in the centre and the emitted gravitational wave is shown in blue.
Credit: Geraint Pratten / Royal Society University Research Fellow at The University of Birmingham Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
White Dwarf - Mass Transfer
Media Description:
Onset of mass transfer between two white dwarfs. The mass stream directly hits the accreting star, rather than forming an accretion disk.
Media use and copyright:
Credit: Radboud University
Two Black Holes Merge into One
Media Description:
The collision of two black holes—an event detected for the first time ever by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO—is seen in this still from a computer simulation. LIGO detected gravitational waves, or ripples in space and time, generated as the black holes merged. The simulation shows what the merger would look like if we could somehow get a closer look. Time has been slowed by a factor of 100. The stars appear warped due to the strong gravity of the black holes.
Media use and copyright:
@SXS
Supermassive black holes after merging
Artist's impression of the aftermath of a merger between two supermassive black holes during a galaxy collision.
Combining the observing power of two future ESA missions, Athena and LISA, would allow us to study these cosmic clashes and their mysterious aftermath for the first time.
We could see the emergence of a new X-ray source, and perhaps witness the birth of an active galactic nucleus, with jets of high-energy particles being launched at close to the speed of light above and beyond the newly formed black hole.
Please visit ESA webpage for best resolution
Media use and copyright:
© ESA
