kilonova: When Neutron Stars Collide

 

We all know that neutron stars are pretty extreme stellar phenomena, but what would happen if two of them ever collided? Welcome to the strange world of the kilonova. Let’s find out more. Kilonovas get their names from the fact that they are 1000 times brighter than a nova. This does mean that they are about 1 tenth to 1 hundredth the brightness of a supernova, and because of how they form they are incredibly interesting indeed. Magnetar Video https://youtu.be/jRPjgKs-aw4 Speed of light video https://youtu.be/kZZ4B8UiEGM Chapters 0:00 – Introduction 0:12 – What are Kilonovas 0:42 – Neutron star formation 1:00 – Binary pairs 2:23 – Neutron star mergers 3:18 – Kilonova 3:48 – R process 4:50 – What does a kilonova produce? 5:17 – Gravity waves 7:00 – Gravity wave detection Image Credits GRB130603 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Tanvir (University of Leicester), A. Levan (University of Warwick), A. Fruchter (STScI), J. Hjorth (University of Copenhagen), R. Hounsell (STScI), K. Wiersema (University of Leicester), and R. Tunnicliffe (University of Warwick) Hubble picture of NGC 4993 with inset showing GRB 170817A over 6 days. Credit: NASA and ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA and ESA - https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-missions-catch-first-light-from-a-gravitational-wave-event