Disclaimered
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This is the first time astronomers have witnessed two neutron stars merging, and guess what it produced? Gold and Platinum. This likely means that all gold on earth was likely produced in the merging of 2 neutron stars - also known as a Kilonova
Two seconds after those signals shook the LIGO detectors, NASA’s orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope caught a flash of gamma-rays coming from the same general region of sky as the LIGO signal. Lasting just under two seconds, the flash looked like a short gamma-ray burst—the type of cosmic explosion thought to be produced by colliding neutron stars.
The detection is a milestone moment in astronomy and astrophysics. Unlike light waves, gravitational waves don't get distorted or altered by interactions with matter as they race through space; they therefore carry "pure" information about the objects and events that created them, according to LIGO researchers.
All of this took the work of thousands of scientists (one of the papers published Monday has 4,500 co-authors!), working collaboratively, world over: http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205
Sources and further reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5SCAO0ZXdI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnwMhvdDcfI
https://www.space.com/38469-gravitational-waves-from-neutron-stars-discovery-ligo.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/gravitational-waves-discovered-neutron-stars-pictures-science/
MomijiInada
Is a Kilonova half way between a super and hyper nova?
TooDoggoneFunny
Please do video slower, so we can actually read what it says.
ZeroCoolisCrashOverride
How much gold pressed latinum did it make?
DunnoWhatToPutHereOrHowToSpellit
This is what I come here for...well this and RHM, and porn gifs...and funny stuff...and...ya i have a problem...
secretlibby
This is gold.
one1deuce
And some platinum
jaskina
THE F I N A L D E A T H S P I R A L
Rasdwatrium
Are we going to ignore the part that ESA did in the whole fucking thing?
MrPickins
aefez
Just a correction: it was observed simultaneously by LIGO and VIRGO (Italy) detectors, therefore improving a lot the location of the source
passbi
So star sex?
Saelael
I love the fact that this made the front page. Such a refreshing change from Facebook.
SinxSam
Truly amazing! But...Does no one else see a dog face in this image??
RandywithanI
"Don't Stop!!! Belivin'!!! Hold onto that feeling!!!" First one looks like a Journey cover.
Keithmoonmoon
Trying to read this on mobile is really fuckin difficult with all the splotions.
marasmus222
So...my ring came from star dust?
CryoSleeping
Even your anus is star dust.... the more you know!
Idsertian
So did the rest of your body. What? Oh you meant your WEDDING ring. My bad.
CountryMetal01
Everything, all of existance, is star dust
youreathing
Even star dust came from star dust. It's all star dust man. Even Ziggy.
raminagrobis
The only elements after the Big Bang were Hydrogen and Helium. Simply put, gas. Everything heavier, solid or liquid, is byproduct of stars.
Disclaimered
So did your body
CountryMetal01
we are the sentient star matter
marasmus222
Really? How have I lived my whole life not knowing this?
guppler
you did too if that helps
marasmus222
Well that's nuts...tell me more things i didn't know!
CryoSleeping
Did you know your nose doesn't run while in cryosleep?
marasmus222
Because it's frozen?
nokers
Its332amAndMyDogNeedsAWalk
We are all stardust
Janusha
Neutron stars certainly are. They are stars broken down to the basic neutrons. Nothing else can exist there.
ToonTooby
I love it when stars go boom. One of my favorite lines from watching NOVA as a kid came from "Death Star", on the subject of GRBs: 1/2
ToonTooby
(on the energy levels) "We've come to accept now that it's our brains that are the problem. Not the energies involved. Space is awesome.
Derekfromireland
Tod Hoffman’s next adventure
WienerHighway
I may be tired but I literally thought the first picture was a galactic space bear
Donjablonski
DatSEAsian4ever29
Perfect
OnePotatoTwoPotatoThreePotatoFloor
JikaelMackson
It's a hard knock life
ThatOneFur
byteme8bit
crazy
poptartfartsfortheheartsmart
Cause that's the only way to make gold and platinum... Obviously.
guppler
yea, all elements heavier than iron (or somewhere around there) are created in supernovas or high energy collisions (like this one)
samsonguy920
It's not. If anything it would produce the most, though, until we discover something bigger.
AbelSalinasMendiola
could somebudy tell muse that their song is missnamed, it should be just kilonova and not Neutron Star Collision
ChanclaSurvivor
It would be awesome to see a clip of the collision, but pretty disappointing that it's always "artist's rendering". Still a fantastic read!
Idsertian
Optics that good have yet to be invented, alas.
ChanclaSurvivor
Hopefully very soon it'll be invented!
guppler
we have its just that we cant build it, the problem is purely physical and due to diffraction, the only way to see (1/2)
guppler
this collision with any resolution even close to the renderings we would need a lense bigger than our planet (2/2)
blaChek
Whats the significance of discovering gravity waves ? I just watched a show about it the other day, but what could come of it?
blaChek
Thanks
samobellows
that explanation was a trainwreck, my appologies. XD
samobellows
it's basically a confirmation of something that was previously a theory. lots of things in science are based on that theory being true, so
TongueWagger
Discovering the grand unified theory of everything. See A Brief History of Time.
guppler
one of the big things is that it further confirms general relativity which is big in and of itself. Aside from that it is a way for us (1)
guppler
to detect astronomical events that aren't visible to us normally like the first detection that was made of the two merging black holes (2)
TheAdventuresofStealy
It's a new way of being able to look at the universe. Like the post mentioned, the gravity waves don't interact with matter like light [1/2]
TheAdventuresofStealy
does, allowing us to even see things that would be blocked from being seen by a telescope that detects electromagnetic waves like light[2/2]
TwoEyedWilly
It further confirmed a theory that everyone already knew to be true, because the theory had already been confirmed in numerous other ways.
samobellows
having something this basic be true means a lot of the things we've done assuming this is true, have 1 less assumption.
facktrick
THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON: The very early universe was so dense that it was opaque to light--we can't see before 380,000 years after the
facktrick
big bang due to light ~'not being able to penetrate' this opaque mush. However, gravity waves do not get caught in matter as light does.
facktrick
In short, gravity waves are our best and only chance for truly uncovering the secrets of the Big Bang.
blaChek
Wow, intense.
tehzpoon
I had a hell of a time trying to read the information in those gifs. Too fast!
KanackyBiznasty
Produced, like, 500 earths worth of platinum and more gold
TedTheMan
Gold!
HULKSMASHMOUTH
Koosies
But where is it now?
jacky780001
Then there must be some oppression over there for USA to liberate.
Janusha
Yes the difficult elements. The heavy particles.
Smallbrownrabbit
Also proves that gravity waves travel at the speed of light as Einstein predicted.
DatSEAsian4ever29
Mind blowing!
LadiesInboxMeYourInsecurities
I read earthworms at first at thought to myself "Huh what an odd unit of measurement." I am not a smart man.
Neoqueto
...I seriously just peed myself from laughing reading your comment
DevonGronka
But you brought a smile to a face, and that's the important thing, isn't it?
mikr0wave
You deserve some gold and platinum for this
neddyhill
dibs..
KanackyBiznasty
SURE! With THAT much, it will be cheaper than dirt. Make EVERYTHING solid gold!!
Wolfmanwolf
and this is somehow a bad thing? gold could be used as fuckin play putty or some shit
TheodoreRex1
Can anyone explain how they know it produced platinum and gold? Honestly curious.
ProfessorSprayAndPray
When they look at the explosion they can see the spectrum of light created. The light carries elemental fingerprints that let us identify...
ProfessorSprayAndPray
what the nova contains. It's the same way we know that the sun is made up of Hydrogen and Helium. The tool used is called a spectrometer.
GlassOfFairlife
Probably based on the absorption spectral lines. Basically different elements absorb and emit different unique wavelengths of light
BlownByTheMonsignor
To put this in perspective: ALL the gold that's been mined on Earth so far could be melted into a single 67' cube.
turtlebuttdestroyer
More jizz gets ejaculated then that everyday!!
Disclaimered
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100
eykompis
Ooh dang,
slimstebow
And all the platinum could fit into a small bedroom
somerandomguyofftheinternet
In the terms of metric system?
TheGhostofLouReed
~20m
iScreenshotGifsAndUseThemToComment
That's big.
vindik8or
Not compared to all the shit that had to be dug through to get to it.
iScreenshotGifsAndUseThemToComment
That's dig.
vindik8or
Dug: past and past participle of dig.
SaraFourImgur
That's enough for at least, like, 3 bracelets
sunsoutgunsoutoaf
At least.
Brocid3n
That's way more than I thought
CaptMinion
Well you're not wrong.