Researchers unveiled Friday a giant telescope built underground in central Japan, joining an international race to detect the so-called gravitational waves emanating from space, the existence of which was predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago.
Takaaki Kajita, a University of Tokyo professor who shared this year's Nobel Prize in physics, has led the project to build the "Kagra" telescope at the Kamioka mine site in Gifu Prefecture, which is also known as a major hub of neutrino research activities.
The university and other entities are expected to start a trial observation of gravitational waves, which are like ripples in space and time generated by the impact of gravity when an object moves, by next March. Full-scale activities using the telescope are scheduled to start in the fiscal year starting April 2017.