When Neutron Stars Collide, the Explosion is Perfectly Spherical - by BrianKoberlein
The team looked at data from the gravitational wave event GW170817. The event was also seen at optical wavelengths as AT2017gfo. From the gravitational wave data, we know the two neutron stars were orbiting each other about 100 times a second just before they collided, meaning that the explosion should have expanded as a somewhat flattened disk. But when the team measured the motion of the expanding shell, they found a spherical shell of lighter elements.
There is a secondary benefit to this discovery, and it has to do with dark energy and cosmic expansion. Various measurements of cosmic expansion have found rates that slightly disagree with each other. This “tension” in our measurements means there is a subtle problem with our cosmological model. To resolve this issue astronomers have sought out new ways to measure cosmic expansion. Thanks to this work, astronomers could use kilonovae as a standard candle to measure cosmic expansion.
There is still much we don’t understand about kilonova, but thanks to this research we have new ways to understand them and the universe as a whole.
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