A Kilonova Explosion Is An Event That Will Happen In Our Milky Way Galaxy

            A kilonova explosion is possibly nature’s most spectacular event. One of these rare but titanic explosions occurs when a close binary system of two neutron stars decays until the pair collides (artist’s impression above). The resulting kilonova explosion releases a huge flash of radiation and gravitational waves and an expanding shockwave which spreads a large amount of heavy elements through space.

Potential kilonova sites are rare, in fact, only about 10 potential systems are thought to exist among the 100 billion stars of the entire Milky Way galaxy. For the first time, astronomers have now located one of these doomed binary systems. It’s a one in 10 billion star system!

Astronomers used data from the SMARTS Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile to investigate CPD-29 2176. This binary system is located about 11,400 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Puppis. One of the stars in the system is already a neutron star while its companion is a large star destined to end its life in a supernova explosion. After the supernova, a neutron star will be left behind.

Interestingly, this star has lost some of its outer layers, pulled off by the gravitational pull of its neutron star companion. When the star eventually detonates it will be an unusual event called a “stripped supernova”. This is crucial for setting up the potential kilonova.

If a “normal” supernova was to occur in this system, the two stars would be flung away from each other in the blast. However, the somewhat less powerful detonation of a stripped supernova isn’t enough to throw the pair apart. Once the stripped supernova is all over, the system will consist of two close neutron stars spinning around each other in decaying orbits.

This won’t happen soon. It will take at least one million years before the massive star ends its life in the supernova explosion. The resulting new neutron star and its pre-existing neutron star will then gradually draw together, slowly losing orbital energy as gravitational radiation until they eventually smash into each other. When this will happen is unknown, but it definately will occur one day in the far future.

This discovery of this rare cosmic ticking time bomb is important as it’s not just a curiosity. Astronomers are fascinated by the implications of how kilonovae create and disperse heavy elements around the galaxy. The stuff making up our planet presumably formed in one of these events.

Any questions about kilonovae and other cosmic events? Send your Night Sky questions, images and experiences to colin@NightSky.comYou can also suggest topics you would like us to cover in future.

Image credit: NASA

Taken on: February 9, 2023

Tags:

Milky Way Galaxy

Binary Neutron Star System

Astronomy « less

Sets appears in: • February 2023 Photos • Astronomy

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