Rep. Larry Haler congratulates Tri-Cities observatory from House floor

February 12, 2016

A groundbreaking discovery made by a Tri-Cities observatory is making headlines in the Wall Street Journal.  And lawmakers in Olympia offered congratulations from the House floor (Thursday).  Ruth Johnson reports from Olympia.

Johnson: It is being called a new window into the cosmos: the discovery of gravitational waves.  The phenomenon, first detected last fall at Hanford's LIGO observatories and announced Thursday, confirms a major prediction of Einstein's theory of relativity.

Representative Larry Haler, a Republican from the 8th Legislative District shared the news with fellow lawmakers.

Haler: “These gravitational waves they detected are one point three billion light years away from our planet.  That is the equivalent of looking at a human hair from our closest star.”

Johnson: Said Haler:  LIGO deserves great thanks from lawmakers for showing that Hanford and the Tri-Cities are the center of science in the state.  LIGOs twin detectors at Hanford and in Livingston, Louisiana identified the presence of the waves in September.

Ruth Johnson, Olympia.