Exploring the Gravitational Wave Sky with LIGO
Laura Cadonati for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) consists of three
km-scale interferometers, two located in Hanford, WA and one in Livingston, LA.
Each interferometer uses lasers and suspended mirrors to measure the tiny 
changes in the metric of space-time induced by the passage of gravitational 
waves. 
The detection of gravitational waves will provide a fundamental new tool 
for the understanding of our universe by bringing us information from some of 
the most mysterious astrophysical phenomena, such as core collapse supernovae, 
black hole collisions, neutron stars, and the Big Bang.  
Initial LIGO has now achieved its design goal of measuring differences in length
of one part in 1021, or 10^-18 m, one thousand times smaller than the nuclear 
diameter, and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration is actively searching for 
gravitational wave signatures in the interferometers' data.  
This talk will describe the most recent results from the analysis of LIGO data 
and the prospects for the next several years, including the upgrade from Initial
to Advanced LIGO and the evolving plans for space-based interferometry.