It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes
Again, it is not going to be something mundane like an asteroid, of any kind, headed Earthward or not. Asteroids, do not have enough mass that a gravitation wave observatory would even be able to measure their presence, as far as I understand it!
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes
Yes we do.
It was a binary neutron star collision, which was not only detected via the application of gravitational wave detectors, but also imaged by a huge array of telescopes of varying types.
Because neutron stars are not like unto black holes, in that they emit visible light, the event was able to be imaged directly, as well as with the gravitational wave system, so not only is this the first collision of its sort to be recorded with the gravitational wave system, but also the first gravitational wave detection to be co-witnessed with more standard methods of viewing phenomenon in deep space!
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes
It was a fascinating discovery, from which the scientific community learned much, and which has advanced our understanding of certain aspects of how our world and its components came to be. By studying the light which emitted from the collision, they are now absolutely sure that the heavier elements which exist in our world and the wider universe, are created in neutron star collisions, something which was heavily suspected, but has now been all but confirmed by their observations. That is just one of the areas of astrophysics which has had a shot in the arm as a result of this observation.
Scientists are gobbling up the results of this observation like starving people at a medieval banquet, because it has so many wider implications, so many tidbits of interest across such a broad spectrum of study areas. Fascinating and amazing stuff. I highly recommend watching any videos you can, featuring the post observation conference/announcement, because the people who made the observations are far better at communicating the depth of their discovery, than I am, and they have graphs and graphics to help demonstrate their meaning!
The spectacular merger of two neutron stars that generated gravitational waves announced last fall likely did something else: birthed a black hole. This newly spawned black hole would be the lowest mass black hole ever found.
A Chandra observation two to three days after the event failed to detect a source, but subsequent observations 9, 15 and 16 days after the event, resulted in detections. The source went behind the Sun soon after, but further brightening was seen in Chandra observations about 110 days after the event, followed by comparable X-ray intensity after about 160 days.
By comparing the Chandra observations with those by the NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), Pooley and collaborators explain the observed X-ray emission as being due entirely to the shock wave—akin to a sonic boom from a supersonic plane—from the merger smashing into surrounding gas. There is no sign of X-rays resulting from a neutron star.