GW170817
Videos
GW170817 was a gravitational wave observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 17 August 2017, originating within the shell elliptical galaxy NGC 4993, about 140 million light years away. The wave was
Artistic concept: two neutron stars merge
Light curves at various wavelengths of kilonova in NGC 4993
Artist's impression of strontium emerging from a neutron star merger.
PIA21423 Surface of TRAPPIST 1f
Neutron star merger
Videos
A neutron star merger is the stellar collision of neutron stars. When two neutron stars fall into mutual orbit, they gradually spiral inward due to the loss of energy emitted as gravitational radiatio
GW170817
…4993, about 140 million light years away. The wave was produced by the last moments of the inspiral of a binary pair of neutron stars, ending with their merger. It is the first GW detection to be definitively correlated with any electromagnetic observation. Unlike the five prior GW detections—which were of…
Artist's impression of neutron stars merging, producing gravitational waves and resulting in a kilonova