Neutron stars: New telescope detects dead suns colliding

  22 July 2022    Read: 642
Neutron stars: New telescope detects dead suns colliding

Astronomers can for the first time detect the smashing together of dead suns known as neutron stars, thanks to a powerful new telescope.

Collisions of neutron stars are key to our understanding of the Universe.

They are thought to have created heavy metals that formed stars and planets like our own billions of years ago.

Light from the crashes is only visible for a couple of nights so the telescope must race to locate them.

Astronomers observed one of these collisions in 2017 but largely came across it by luck.

The British-built Gravitational Wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), located above the clouds on the volcanic Spanish island of La Palma will now systematically hunt for them.

"When a really good detection comes along, it's all hands on deck to make the most of it," Prof Danny Steeghs, of Warwick University told me on La Palma.

"Speed is of the essence. We are looking for something very short-lived - there's not much time before they fade away".

Neutron stars are so heavy that a small teaspoon of their material weighs four billion tonnes.

The telescope allows astronomers to effectively crack one open to see what is inside.


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