Dead Stars Collided, Threw Jet Light In Space

Astronomical researchers have reported in online scientific journal Science that they have managed to capture details of a collision between cores of two dead stars that smashed into each other. When these ultra-dense cores collided it threw bright jet of light in outer space along with charged subatomic particles. The observers first though that no part of the stars would have survived the crash that had been first seen in 2017 August but recent observations of the crash site by a network of radio telescopes spread across the world showed that some high speed particle stream did escape from the crash.

This research is part of a collaborative research among astronomical scientists that this merger produced a jet of small particles within a light beam which could with detailed study shed light on the presence of mysterious light flashes that are referred to as short gamma-ray bursts. According to experts when pair of neutron stars crashed against each other they generally tend to merge creating a black hole. During this process they release a combination of high energy and magnetic fields that could launch bright trail of electrons and protons that move at the speed of light. Researchers concluded that when these jets are seen from afar they look like short gamma-ray bursts but till date no scientific group has directly observed collision of neutron star leading to bursts of jet light. The neutron star crash that had been observed in 2017 for the first time gave the scientists data to test their idea and details of the merger were picked up by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory and another experiment observatory Advanced Virgo when they detected ripples in space which was caused by gravitational waves that occurred due to the crash. While earlier detections recorded black holes that collided without emitting any light this neutron star crash glowed brightly helping astronomers to observe details of the crash.