Posted on 10/16/2017 7:55:20 AM PDT by C19fan
For the first time, two neutron stars in a nearby galaxy have been observed engaging in a spiral death dance around one another until they collided. What resulted from that collision is being called an "unprecedented" discovery that is ushering in a new era of astronomy, scientists announced Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“discovery that is ushering in a new era of astronomy”
New eras seem ushered in every other week.
Neutron stars have the mass of two suns compressed into a ball about 12 miles in diameter. Really, some of the most incredible objects in the universe and whose physical properties are mind-boggling.
I would hope so with the money spent on space and land-based telescopes. Looks like money well-spent!
This discovery of two neutron stars colliding to create the same type of waves, in addition to light, allowed astronomers to study gravitational waves in a new way. The signal lasted for 100 seconds, providing them with even more data and insight. It revealed that light and gravitational waves travel at the same speed.
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This is a big deal. Thanks for the post.
Apparently, this is the first time a gravitational wave source has been seen in visible light.
This one is for real.
Michelle???
man, that is just incredible to even try to comprehend that...
Sniff...sniff....I smell a sh** load of Grant Money.
I can just imagine the energy building up between the two star as they closed in on each other. Amazing!
There’s a lot of abuse of grant money, but as far as learning how God’s creation works, this was money well spent.
I wonder why the neutron stars did not collapse into black holes.
Everything is hyped now.
Amazing yes, but very weak compared to the merger of two black holes.
Not enough mass.
If you look at Wikipedia the star that collapses into a neutron star is not massive enough. As this star collapses the protons and electrons merge to become neutrons. Based on the rules of quantum mechanics the force of gravity is not enough to overcome the tendency of the neutrons not to want to crunch into each other; neutron degeneracy pressure. In a black hole there is enough mass in the original star to overcome this pressure.
Overall in a star gravity wanting to crunch the object is working against another force. In our sun the heat generated by fusion stops gravity. When out sun runs out of fuel the star will collapse until the repulse force of the electrons stops the collapse forming a white dwarf. As I mention in a neutron star the repulsive force of the neutrons stops gravity.
“In our sun the heat generated by fusion stops gravity. “
It does not ‘stop’ gravity. It counters the force of it. Airplane wings don’t ‘stop’ gravity either. They just provide a force that counters it for a while.
Great article!
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