European Gravitational Observatory

The European Gravitational Observatory or EGO is located in the countryside near Pisa, in the hamlet of Santo Stefano a Macerata in the comune of Cascina. In order to ensure the long term scientific exploitation of the Virgo interferometric antenna for gravitational waves detection as well as to foster European collaboration in this upcoming field, the Virgo funding institutions (CNRS for France and INFN for Italy) have created a consortium called EGO (European Gravitational Observatory). The European Gravitational Observatory or EGO is located in the countryside near Pisa, in the hamlet of Santo Stefano a Macerata in the comune of Cascina. In order to ensure the long term scientific exploitation of the Virgo interferometric antenna for gravitational waves detection as well as to foster European collaboration in this upcoming field, the Virgo funding institutions (CNRS for France and INFN for Italy) have created a consortium called EGO (European Gravitational Observatory). Virgo is a 3 kilometer interferometer built through an Italian-French collaboration, later extended to include the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and Spain. The collaboration involves 11 laboratories in the member countries and more than 150 scientists.