Tara Murphy, University of Sydney; Eric Thrane, Monash University, and Qi Chu, The University of Western Australia
The signal came in on ANZAC Day, ripples in space-time from the merger of two neutron stars an estimated 500-million light years away. But where it happened is still a mystery.
Ripples in space-time caused by massive events such this artist rendition of a pair of merging neutron stars.
Carl Knox, OzGrav
More ripples in space-time have been detected from merging pairs of black holes, one of which was the most massive and distant gravitational-wave source ever observed.
Illustration of hot, dense, expanding cloud of debris stripped from the neutron stars just before they collided.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab
Until the recent observation of merging neutron stars, how the heaviest elements come to be was a mystery. But their fingerprints are all over this cosmic collision.
Supercomputer simulation of a pair of neutron stars colliding.
NASA/AEI/ZIB/M. Koppitz and L. Rezzolla
A LIGO team member describes how the detection of a gravitational wave from a new source – merging neutron stars – vaults astronomy into a new era of ‘multi-messenger’ observations.
Simulation of two neutron stars merging.
NASA/AEI/ZIB/M. Koppitz and L. Rezzolla
The gravitational wave itself is the least exciting part of the announcement from LIGO and Virgo. Observing this new source answers many longstanding questions.