Artist’s impression of merging neutron stars

This artist’s impression shows two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on 17 August 2017 by LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL respectively. Subsequent detailed observations with many ESO telescopes confirmed that this object, seen in the galaxy NGC 4993 about 130 million light-years from the Earth, is indeed a kilonova. Such objects are the main source of very heavy chemical elements, such as gold and platinum, in the Universe.

Oikeudet:

ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser

Kuvasta

Tunnistus:eso1733a
Tyyppi:Kuvitus
Julkaisupäivä:16. lokakuuta 2017 16:00
Vastaavat julkaisut:eso1733
Koko:5000 x 3293 px

Kohteesta

Nimi:GW170817, NGC 4993
Tyyppi:Local Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star
Kategoria:Illustrations
Stars

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