ASTRONOMERS can now spot the collisions of dead suns thanks to a new powerful telescope.
In 2017, researchers accidentally detected the space energy of two dead ‘neutron’ stars colliding.
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Shortly after, they discovered that such collisions lead to the production of the gold and platinum that exists in the Universe.
And now, astronomers have developed a telescope that can capture details of these events, BBC reported.
Built by British scientists, the telescope is designated Gravitational Wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO).
The instrument is located on the volcanic Spanish island of La Palma, where it will scour deep space for neutron star collisions.
Because the light from a neutron star collision can only be seen for a couple of nights, the telescope must move quickly to locate them.
“When a really good detection comes along, it’s all hands on deck to make the most of it,” Prof Danny Steeghs, of Warwick University told BBC.
“Speed is of the essence. We are looking for something very short-lived – there’s not much time before they fade away”.
Collisions of neutron stars are imperative to researchers’ understanding of the Universe.
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What is a neutron star?
A neutron star is a city-size stellar object with a mass about 1.4 times that of our sun.
In fact, these stars are so dense that one teaspoon would weigh a billion tons.
Gravity on a neutron star is also 2 billion times stronger than gravity on Earth.
How do neutron stars form?
Neutron stars form when stars four to eight times as massive as our sun explode in a violent supernova.
“Their outer layers can blow off in an often-spectacular display, leaving behind a small, dense core that continues to collapse,” experts from Space.com explained.
“Gravity presses the material in on itself so tightly that protons and electrons combine to make neutrons, yielding the name ‘neutron star’.”
Neutron stars have such a strong gravitational pull that they are drawn to one another – and eventually, they merge together.
This celestial event causes a flash of light and subsequently a powerful shockwave that ripples throughout the Universe.
“It makes everything in the Universe wobble, including, imperceptibly, the atoms inside each one of us,” BBC reported.
