" GW170817, was first detected on Aug. 17 at 8:41 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time"
"Our background analysis showed an event of this strength happens less than once in 80,000 years
by random coincidence, so we recognized this right away as a very confident detection and a remarkably nearby source,”
adds Laura Cadonati, professor of physics at Georgia Tech and deputy spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
“This detection has genuinely opened the doors to a new way of doing astrophysics. I expect it will be remembered as one of the most studied astrophysical events in history.”
___
"The gravitational waves tell us that the merging objects had masses consistent with neutron stars, and the flash of gamma rays tells us that the objects are unlikely to be black holes, since a collision of black holes is not expected to give off light."
"Approximately 130 million years ago, the two neutron stars were in their final moments of orbiting each other, separated only by about 300 kilometers, or 200 miles,
and gathering speed while closing the distance between them.
As the stars spiraled faster and closer together, they stretched and distorted the surrounding space-time,
giving off energy
in the form of powerful gravitational waves, before smashing into each other."
Kilonova.
No comments:
Post a Comment