Sentences with word «kilonova»

Editorial note: This article was corrected on Oct. 20, to rectify an inaccuracy introduced by the editor, misstating the brightness of kilonovas.

«Now it seems that by hunting for kilonovas, astronomers may be able to tie together the events giving rise to both phenomena,» Tanvir said.

This powerful kilonova blast emits as much visible and near - infrared light every second as the Sun does every few years.

Supernovas are, in fact, the brightest, followed by kilonovas and novas, respectively.

Swift and NuSTAR observations of GW170817: Detection of a blue kilonova.

Connecting kilonovae and short gamma - ray bursts to neutron star mergers has so far been difficult, but the multitude of detailed observations following the detection of the gravitational wave event GW170817 has now finally verified these connections.

Although the initial blast of gamma rays lasted just one - tenth of a second, it was roughly 100 billion times brighter than the subsequent kilonova flash.

In a recent science paper Jennifer Barnes and Daniel Kasen of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory presented new calculations predicting how kilonovas should look.

Ultraviolet and x-ray observations of a binary neutron star merger show a hot kilonova but no jet along the line of sight.

Scientists have long wondered how elements heavier than iron are created in our universe (elements lighter than iron are created via stellar nucleosynthesis in the cores of stars), but now we have observational evidence that these cataclysmic kilonovas are also cosmic foundries where the heaviest — and most precious — elements are seeded.

This material almost immediately decayed into lighter elements, leading to a bright, radioactive «kilonova» astronomers could see some 85 million to 160 million light - years away from Earth.

The image above and animation below show the kilonova light burst, caused by neutrons radioactively decaying into precious metals, turning from blue to red over the span of four days.

We take the gold, platinum, and silver for granted, but in October, astronomers announced proof of the metals» catastrophic origins: radioactive fireworks called a kilonova, which occur only after the hyper - dense cores of two dead stars smash together.

Optical emission from a kilonova following a gravitational - wave - detected neutron - star merger.

Observations revealed a previously theorized process dubbed a «kilonova» — thought to be a source of heavy elements like gold, silver, platinum and uranium — which could form as neutron - rich material is ejected from the stars.

A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source.

Using Hubble's spectroscopic capabilities the teams also found indications of material being ejected by the kilonova as fast as one - fifth of the speed of light.

«It was surprising just how closely the behaviour of the kilonova matched the predictions,» said Nial Tanvir, professor at the University of Leicester and leader of another Hubble observing team.

The associated stellar flare, a kilonova, is clearly visible in the Hubble observations.

Using Hubble's high - resolution imaging capabilities they managed to get the first observational proof for a kilonova, the visible counterpart of the merging of two extremely dense objects — most likely two neutron stars [3].

«The spectrum of the kilonova looked exactly like how theoretical physicists had predicted the outcome of the merger of two neutron stars would appear,» says Levan.

[4] In 2013 astronomers published results on the evidence for a kilonova, associated with a short gamma - ray burst.

This merger created a kilonova — an object predicted by theory decades ago — that ejects heavy elements such as gold and platinum into space.

The researchers combined these «universal relations» with data on gravitational - wave signals and the subsequent electromagnetic radiation (kilonova) obtained during the observation last year of two merging neutron stars in the framework of the LIGO experiment.

The initial merger of the two superdense objects caused an explosion, called a kilonova, that propelled a spherical shell of debris outward.

They also sparked a kilonova that glowed for days as it generated heavy elements.

The observation of a kilonova scores a third advance by solving a long - standing puzzle in nuclear physicists: the origin of half the elements heavier than iron, including silver, gold, and platinum.

The observations revealed the fading afterglow of a kilonova explosion, providing the «smoking gun» evidence for the merger hypothesis.

They predicted that the same hot plasma producing the radiation will also act to block the visible light, causing the gusher of energy from the kilonova to flood out in near - infrared light over several days.

The afterglow reveals for the first time a new kind of stellar blast called a kilonova, an explosion predicted to accompany a short - duration GRB.

A kilonova lasts for about a week.

The fading glow provided key evidence that it was the decaying fireball of a new type of stellar blast called a kilonova.

Kilonovas are predicted to form such elements in abundance, spraying them out into space where they could become part of future generations of stars and planets.

Second, the event reveals a hypothesized object called a kilonova, because it briefly shines thousands of times brighter than an ordinary nova.

A kilonova is about 1,000 times brighter than a nova, which is caused by the eruption of a white dwarf.

«But this new theory predicts that when you compare near - infrared and optical images of a short gamma - ray burst about a week after the blast, the kilonova should pop out in the infrared, and that's exactly what we're seeing.»

«We quickly realized this was a chance to test Barnes» and Kasen's new theory by using Hubble to hunt for a kilonova in near - infrared light,» Tanvir said.

Scientists detected the characteristic glow of this process, called a kilonova, in follow - up observations.

Scientists from U.S. and European collaborations converged on the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., today to say they've detected an X - ray / gamma - ray flash that coincided with a burst of gravitational waves, followed by visible light from a new cosmic explosion called a kilonova.

Kilpatrick et al. show how these observations can be explained by an explosion known as a kilonova, which produces large quantities of heavy elements in nuclear reactions.

DECam was among the first to observe the flaring up and fading of a kilonova that occurs when neutron stars crash into each other.

The aftermath of the neutron star collision detected in August included the gravitational waves spotted by LIGO and VIRGO (pale arcs); a near - light - speed jet that produced gamma rays (magenta); expanding debris from a kilonova — an explosion similar to a supernova, but smaller — that produced ultraviolet (violet), optical and infrared (blue - white to red) emission; and X-rays (blue).

A hike in the kilonova's energy would also point to the collision leaving behind a neutron star, whereas a black hole is expected to cause a single gamma ray burst.

Astronomers have for the first time matched a gravitational - wave signal to a kilonova's burst of light, observations that will «go down in the history of astronomy.»