GRB 200522A (IMAGE)

W. M. Keck Observatory

GRB 200522A

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

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

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