Yesterday, after a whole day of meetings for the Virgo Week, over 50 Virgo researchers and technicians have taken part in the annual Triathlon 🏃🚴🏓 The winning team is “VECS”: Lorenzo Mirasola, Enzo Tapia, Lorenzo Piccari, Marco Nardello, Maddalena Mantovani. Congratulations🏆

RT @lucanardi_space: Vi racconto della visita a @ego_virgo, l'interferometro europeo che misura le onde gravitazionali! Guardatelo perché i….

RT @CNRS_IN2P3: 🎉 Happy 50th anniversary to @_nikhef!. From all of us at CNRS Nuclear & Particles, thank you for being such great partners….

ℹ️ The 'Big Bang Machine' van is a mobile immersive installation created by the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) with the support of IVECO, the Pisa Foundation and the European Union projects AHEAD 2020 and PICO.

Comicon Naples was out of this world 🚀 Thousands of people came to our stand and over 800 had the immersive experience of the Big Bang Machine! Thanks to everyone for the enthusiasm, and stay tuned for the next events 🚛

They were presented with the editio princeps of the Divine Comedy by Pierluigi Mingarelli, director of the Experimental Sciences Laboratory, Roberto Battiston, president of the European Space Sciences Committee, and the philosopher of science Silvano Tagliagambe.

Gianluca Gemme, researcher at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and spokesperson for the Virgo Collaboration, and Filippo Martelli, professor at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo and member of the Virgo Collaboration.

Accepting the award on behalf of this community were Massimo Carpinelli, professor at the University of Milan Bicocca and Director of the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), the institution that hosts the Virgo gravitational wave detector,.

And thus reminds us of the great social and civil responsibility that always accompanies scientific research and our efforts to expand the boundaries of knowledge.".

"This prize, in fact, emphasises the broader significance that great scientific endeavours, such as the observation of gravitational waves, can have for society, education and, I would say, for the entire human community.

"We are honoured by the recognition that the Science and Philosophy Festival and the city of Foligno have awarded to the Virgo International Collaboration," said Gianluca Gemme.

Yesterday in Foligno during the Festa di Scienza e Filosofia the @LIGO - Virgo - @KAGRA_PR Collaboration received an award, instituted by the Laboratory of Experimental Sciences of Foligno, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the first detection of gravitational waves.

In the new #AskVirgo series we answer the most interesting, difficult or curious questions we get about Virgo and the detection of gravitational waves ✨ If you have any questions you can write them in the comments below ⬇️ we will answer them in an upcoming video!.

Gravitational waves are only emitted by asymmetrical, accelerating objects (or systems) 🏃💨 But why would a perfectly symmetrical object, such as a perfect sphere, not emit gravitational waves? 🤔 Let's hear the answer from Barbara Patricelli, Virgo researcher at @Unipisa

April Fools' Day! This post was an April Fools joke, thank you for having fun with us 🥳 Although we didn't install 300 balloons on Virgo's arms this year we will indeed celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first detection, with many events. Keep following us to find out 😉.

In addition, for the entire year, all children visiting the interferometer will be given a balloon ‘customised’ with a gravitational wave event and filled by EGO's “balloonists”.

The installation of balloons is visible at great distances 👀 advertising Virgo’s presence even to those who had not noticed its long mauve arms until now.

Crucial was also the contribution of the department of EGO that monitors Virgo's surroundings, thanks to whose alerts it will be possible to temporarily ‘lower’ the balloons in the event of adverse environmental conditions, such as, for example, strong winds.

the largest volume of ultra high vacuum in Europe. Virgo's super-sophisticated pumps have been exceptionally adapted to perform a continuous cycle of pumping helium into the balloons, capable of guaranteeing their tightness for many months.

The installation will remain visible until the end of 2025, and will also set another record as the most ‘long-lived’ installation of this nature ever. This was made possible by the sophisticated pumping technologies developed to create the vacuum of the Virgo interferometer