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posted by takyon on Tuesday October 17 2017, @04:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the medium-bang dept.

Scientists Witness Huge Cosmic Crash, Find Origins of Gold

It started in a galaxy called NGC 4993, seen from Earth in the Hydra constellation. Two neutron stars, collapsed cores of stars so dense that a teaspoon of their matter would weigh 1 billion tons, danced ever faster and closer together until they collided, said Carnegie Institution astronomer Maria Drout.

The crash, called a kilonova, generated a fierce burst of gamma rays and a gravitational wave, a faint ripple in the fabric of space and time, first theorized by Albert Einstein.

The signal arrived on Earth on Aug. 17 after traveling 130 million light-years. [...] The colliding stars spewed bright blue, super-hot debris that was dense and unstable. Some of it coalesced into heavy elements, like gold, platinum and uranium. Scientists had suspected neutron star collisions had enough power to create heavier elements, but weren't certain until they witnessed it. "We see the gold being formed," said Syracuse's Brown.

So the ring on your finger is actually the skeletal remains of neutron stars.

Observatories Across the World Announce Groundbreaking New Gravitational Wave Discovery

Today, physicists and astronomers around the world are announcing a whole new kind of gravitational wave signal at a National Science Foundation press conference in Washington, DC. But it's not just gravitational waves. That August day, x-ray telescopes, visible light, radio telescopes, and gamma-ray telescopes all spotted a flash, one consistent with a pair of neutron stars swirling together, colliding and coalescing into a black hole. The observation, called a "kilonova," simultaneously answered questions like "where did the heavy metal in our Universe come from" and "what causes some of the gamma-ray bursts scientists have observed since the 60s." It also posed new ones.

[...] All in all, the discovery marks an important milestone in gravitational wave astronomy and proof that LIGO and Virgo do more than spot colliding black holes. At present, the detectors are all receiving sensitivity upgrades. When they come back online, they may see other sources like some supernovae or maybe even a chorus of background gravitational waves from the most distant stellar collisions.

https://gizmodo.com/observatories-across-the-world-announce-groundbreaking-1819500578

[Also Covered By]:

Papers:

Optical emission from a kilonova following a gravitational-wave-detected neutron-star merger (open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24291) (DX)

Spectroscopic identification of r-process nucleosynthesis in a double neutron-star merger (open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24298) (DX)

A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant (open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24471) (DX)

The X-ray counterpart to the gravitational-wave event GW170817 (open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24290) (DX)

A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source (open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24303) (DX)

Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational-wave event (open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24453) (DX)

Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa91c9) (DX)

Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa920c) (DX)

An Ordinary Short Gamma-Ray Burst with Extraordinary Implications: Fermi-GBM Detection of GRB 170817A (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8f41) (DX)

INTEGRAL Detection of the First Prompt Gamma-Ray Signal Coincident with the Gravitational-wave Event GW170817 (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8f94) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Discovery of the Optical Counterpart Using the Dark Energy Camera (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9059) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8fc7) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. III. Optical and UV Spectra of a Blue Kilonova from Fast Polar Ejecta (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9029) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. IV. Detection of Near-infrared Signatures of r-process Nucleosynthesis with Gemini-South (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa905c) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. V. Rising X-Ray Emission from an Off-axis Jet (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9057) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. VI. Radio Constraints on a Relativistic Jet and Predictions for Late-time Emission from the Kilonova Ejecta (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa905d) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. VII. Properties of the Host Galaxy and Constraints on the Merger Timescale (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9055) (DX)

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. VIII. A Comparison to Cosmological Short-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9018) (DX)

The Discovery of the Electromagnetic Counterpart of GW170817: Kilonova AT 2017gfo/DLT17ck (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8edf) (DX)

A Deep Chandra X-Ray Study of Neutron Star Coalescence GW170817 (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8ede) (DX)

The Unprecedented Properties of the First Electromagnetic Counterpart to a Gravitational-wave Source (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa905e) (DX)

The Emergence of a Lanthanide-rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa90b6) (DX)

Observations of the First Electromagnetic Counterpart to a Gravitational-wave Source by the TOROS Collaboration (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9060) (DX)

The Old Host-galaxy Environment of SSS17a, the First Electromagnetic Counterpart to a Gravitational-wave Source (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9116) (DX)

The Distance to NGC 4993: The Host Galaxy of the Gravitational-wave Event GW170817 (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9110) (DX)

The Rapid Reddening and Featureless Optical Spectra of the Optical Counterpart of GW170817, AT 2017gfo, during the First Four Days (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9111) (DX)

Optical Follow-up of Gravitational-wave Events with Las Cumbres Observatory (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa910f) (DX)

A Neutron Star Binary Merger Model for GW170817/GRB 170817A/SSS17a (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa91b3) (DX)

Previously: European Southern Observatory to Announce "Unprecedented Discovery" on Monday


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Original Submission #3

 
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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 16 2017, @06:01PM (16 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday October 16 2017, @06:01PM (#583073) Journal

    I'm going to try and shrink the summary a bit.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 16 2017, @06:31PM (5 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday October 16 2017, @06:31PM (#583085) Journal

    Not done adding papers. There are at least 10. Adding to a spoiler block.

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 16 2017, @06:54PM (4 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday October 16 2017, @06:54PM (#583097) Journal

      28 papers added to the summary and they are all open access.

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      • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday October 16 2017, @07:29PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 16 2017, @07:29PM (#583122) Journal
        The large number of papers seems to be a consequence of the "multi-messenger" approach. Multiple observations of the same event in different frequencies of EM and gravity waves often means a separate research team and paper for each observation.
      • (Score: 2) by edIII on Monday October 16 2017, @07:41PM

        by edIII (791) on Monday October 16 2017, @07:41PM (#583129)

        Awesome. Very appreciated :)

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      • (Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday October 16 2017, @08:41PM (1 child)

        by Fluffeh (954) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 16 2017, @08:41PM (#583148) Journal

        Well, looks like you had it picked nicely =)

        Still, a proper earth like planet nearby or with an interesting atmosphere would have been nice too!

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Monday October 16 2017, @06:45PM (5 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday October 16 2017, @06:45PM (#583092)

    Follow the example: grab both parts of the summary, which are pretty dense, and let them collide, emit new material and positive energy, leaving behind a tiny black dot and a slash in the fabric of the internet.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Monday October 16 2017, @06:58PM (3 children)

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday October 16 2017, @06:58PM (#583102) Journal

      That's how we got beta :-(

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday October 16 2017, @07:02PM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 16 2017, @07:02PM (#583103) Journal

        That's how we got beta :-(

        But what amount of heavy elements got created in the process!
        Some are even unstable.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 16 2017, @11:52PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 16 2017, @11:52PM (#583222)

          Still waiting for them to decay and become regular right wingers instead of nutters.

      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @01:12AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @01:12AM (#583242)

        But from the decay of Beta we got Soylent

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 16 2017, @07:10PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday October 16 2017, @07:10PM (#583111) Journal

      My god. That's the question for the answer:

      42

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Monday October 16 2017, @06:53PM (3 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday October 16 2017, @06:53PM (#583095) Homepage

    Mostly harmless.

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 16 2017, @07:02PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday October 16 2017, @07:02PM (#583104) Journal

      Yes, you are.

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      • (Score: 4, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 16 2017, @07:11PM (1 child)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday October 16 2017, @07:11PM (#583113) Journal

        No, no, he's onto something. What if we wrapped the whole thing up and soaked it in a cup of really, really hot tea?

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 16 2017, @11:54PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 16 2017, @11:54PM (#583224)

          Existentially concrete crisis in 3, 2, 1...