Cosmoview Episode 61: First Kilonova Progenitor System Identified

Astronomers using data from the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at  the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, have made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova — the ultra-powerful, gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars. These systems are so phenomenally rare that only about 10 such systems are thought to exist in the entire Milky Way. 

Credit:

Images and Videos: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, Fermilab, T. Puzia (PUC), J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani, P. Marenfeld, N. Bartmann
Music: Stellardrone - In Time

 

About the Video

Id:noirlab2303a
Release date:Feb. 1, 2023, 9 a.m.
Related releases:noirlab2303
Duration:01 m 28 s
Frame rate:29.97

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