This artist’s impression shows two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on 17 August 2017 by LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL respectively. Subsequent detailed observations with many ESO telescopes confirmed that this object, seen in the galaxy NGC 4993 about 130 million light-years from the Earth, is indeed a kilonova. Such objects are the main source of very heavy chemical elements, such as gold and platinum, in the Universe.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada. Music: Johan B. Monell
This animation is based on a series of spectra of the kilonova in NGC 4993 observed by the X-shooter instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. They cover a period of 12 days after the initial explosion on 17 August 2017. The kilonova is very blue initially but then brightens in the red and fades.
Credit: ESO/E. Pian et al./S. Smartt & ePESSTO/L. Calçada