Explanation:
What created this unusual explosion?
Three weeks ago, gravitational wave detectors in the USA and Europe -- the
LIGO and
Virgo detectors
-- detected a burst of gravitational radiation that had the
oscillating pattern
expected when a
black hole destroys a
neutron star.
One object in
event S190814sv was best
fit with a mass greater than five times the mass of the Sun -- making it a good candidate
for a black hole, while the other object appeared to have a mass less than three
times the mass of the
Sun --
making it a good candidate for a neutron star.
No
similar event had been detected with gravitational waves before.
Unfortunately, no light was seen from
this
explosion,
light that might have been triggered by the disrupting
neutron star.
It is theoretically possible that the lower mass object was also a black hole, even
though no clear example of a black hole with such a low mass is known.
The
featured video was created to illustrate a previously suspected
black hole - neutron star
collision detected in light in 2005, specifically gamma-rays from the burst
GRB 050724.
The animated video starts with a foreground
neutron star orbiting a black hole surrounded by an
accretion disk.
The black hole's gravity then shreds the neutron star, creating a jet as debris falls
into the black hole.
S190814sv
will continue to be researched, with clues about the nature of the objects involved
possibly coming from future detections of similar systems.
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