LIGO opened its doors to the general public on March 8 for LIGO Inside and Out, an event that combined a look at LIGO's detector hardware with discussions of the astrophysical events whose gravitational waves should make the detectors hum. In the auditorium, LHO scientist Mike Landry hosted showings of Einstein's Messengers and the NOVA Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) film Death Star. Mike provided the audience with the latest information about our understanding of GRB's as potential signal sources for LIGO. Concurrently, guests could opt for an Observatory tour, play on LIGO's hands-on exhibits or engage in several special astronomy activities and a coloring contest for kids. Several members of the Tri-City Astronomy Club provided telescope for solar astronomy, taking advantage of the clear sky to search for activity on an unsually quiet Sun.

The day's culminating activity focused on the 'inside' portion of Inside and Out. The photo above shows clean room-garbed LHO Head Fred Raab in LIGO's Laser and Vacuum Equipment Area (LVEA). Not shown are camera man (LIGO operator) Cyrus Reed and grip (graduate student) Evan Goetz. Fred, Cyrus and Evan toured the LVEA, sending the video feed into the auditorium where guests could see and hear Fred explaining features of the 4-km interferometer's laser system, input optics (hidden in the vacuum system) and detection hardware. LHO's current commissioning activities provided the opportunity for this unique view of thse detector subsystems.