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Monday, October 16, 2017

First-seen neutron star collision creates light, gravitational waves and gold

This is an artist's representation of two neutron stars colliding, which astronomers witnessed for the first time on August 17, 2017. The rippling space-time grid represents gravitational waves that travel out from the collision, while the narrow beams show the bursts of gamma rays that are shot out just seconds after the gravitational waves. Swirling clouds of material ejected from the merging stars are also depicted. The clouds glow with visible and other wavelengths of light.

First-seen neutron star collision creates light, gravitational waves and gold

CNN | 16 October 2017

This artist's impression shows the spiral death dance of the two stars before colliding.
On the left, this Carnegie Observatories image shows the brightness of the stars colliding in the upper left corner on the day it happened. This is juxtaposed with the image on the right of the reddish-brown color as the collision cooled in the days after.
This is another artist's impression of two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova.
Another artist's illustration showing the moment of impact between the two neutron stars.
The collision happened in the galaxy NGC 4993, about 130 million light-years from Earth. Although this is far from Earth, the galaxy is a neighbor "just around the corner" from our own, the Milky Way, according to astronomers.
The merging of two neutron stars produces a violent explosion known as a kilonova. Such an event is expected to expel heavy chemical elements into space. This picture shows some of these elements, along with their atomic numbers.
Neutron stars are incredibly dense, squeezing more than the mass of the sun into a sphere the size of a city. The diameter of a neutron star is about 12 miles, shown here scaled against the Chicago skyline for comparison.
This illustration shows the ejecting of materials, including heavy elements, due to the merger of the stars. The heavy elements were spread across space.



4 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:30 AM

    I am well versed in Astronomy and Astrophysics (among other 50 subjects). Perhaps I can contribute some interesting insights here.

    -Drgunzet-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:02 PM

      Hello, Mr. asstrophysicist !

      What is your favorite atomic number ?! Tm (69)?

      Mine is Curium 96 or Cm (96)! Can you explain about Compton
      scattering and light extinction ?!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:45 AM

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton_scattering
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_(astronomy)

      If you have problem of understanding, let me know.

      -Drgunzet-

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:42 AM

      Very good of you Drgunzet that you decide to play by the rules !

      I hope that you can persuade your friend, Mr.Hun Sen, to stick with the rule of good established law. Advice him also to stay away from capricious but dangerous moves, will you ?!

      Delete