Hot on the heels of their Nobel Prize, the LIGO collaboration is announcing the first detection of a neutron star collision. Unlike with black hole collisions, this one had a photon-based detection, in the form of a gamma ray burst picked up by the Fermi space telescope. So that confirms that neutron star collisions are producing the short gamma ray bursts we've been detecting for years. In addition, some heavy elements were found in the debris; these were unlikely to be formed in supernovas, so we weren't entirely sure how they got here. Now we know.
It's a great validation for the National Science Foundation, which funded LIGO to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, all without a guarantee that it would ultimately work.
The story's going to be all over the place - it was released at 10am US Eastern, so i don't have links at the moment.
It's a great validation for the National Science Foundation, which funded LIGO to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, all without a guarantee that it would ultimately work.
The story's going to be all over the place - it was released at 10am US Eastern, so i don't have links at the moment.
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