- NASA ID: GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001100
- Keywords: Neutron Stars Rip Each Other Apart to Form Black Hole, star, space, nasa, universe, blackhole, neutronstar, nasagoddard
- Album: Test
- Center: GSFC
- Creator: NASA Goddard
- Date Created: 2017-12-08
- Visit GSFC Website
Simulation
frames from this NASA Goddard neutron star merger animation: <a
href="http://bit.ly/1jolBYY" rel="nofollow">bit.ly/1jolBYY</a>
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
This supercomputer simulation shows one of the most violent events in
the universe: a pair of neutron stars colliding, merging and forming a
black hole. A neutron star is the compressed core left behind when a
star born with between eight and 30 times the sun's mass explodes as a
supernova. Neutron stars pack about 1.5 times the mass of the sun —
equivalent to about half a million Earths — into a ball just 12 miles
(20 km) across.
As the simulation begins, we view an unequally matched pair of neutron
stars weighing 1.4 and 1.7 solar masses. They are separated by only
about 11 miles, slightly less distance than their own diameters. Redder
colors show regions of progressively lower density.
As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform
them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible
density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about
a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a
much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their
centers. To begin to imagine such mind-boggling densities, consider that
a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest.
By 7 milliseconds, tidal forces overwhelm and shatter the lesser star.
Its superdense contents erupt into the system and curl a spiral arm of
incredibly hot material. At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has
accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses,
and a new black hole is born. The black hole's event horizon — its point
of no return — is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter
from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less
dense, faster moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a
large and rapidly rotating torus. This torus extends for about 124
miles (200 km) and contains the equivalent of 1/5th the mass of our sun.
Scientists think neutron star mergers like this produce short gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs last less than two seconds yet unleash as much
energy as all the stars in our galaxy produce over one year.
The rapidly fading afterglow of these explosions presents a challenge to
astronomers. A key element in understanding GRBs is getting instruments
on large ground-based telescopes to capture afterglows as soon as
possible after the burst. The rapid notification and accurate positions
provided by NASA's Swift mission creates a vibrant synergy with
ground-based observatories that has led to dramatically improved
understanding of GRBs, especially for short bursts.
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: <a
href="http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011500/a011530/index.html"
rel="nofollow">svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011500/a011530/index.html</a>
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