Glow From Kilonova (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Glow From Kilonova

Caption

This image shows the glow from a kilonova caused by the merger of two neutron stars. The kilonova, whose peak brightness reaches up to 10,000 times that of a classical nova, appears as a bright spot (indicated by the arrow) to the upper left of the host galaxy. The merger of the neutron stars is believed to have produced a magnetar, which has an extremely powerful magnetic field. The energy from that magnetar brightened the material ejected from the explosion.

Credit

Credits: NASA, ESA, W. Fong (Northwestern University), and T. Laskar (University of Bath, UK)

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