[slate]
[slate] We saw what happens when two
neutron stars collide. Neutron stars are the smallest, most dense stars
that we know of. The two stars spiraled in together
In closer and closer and closer until they collide in a huge explosion
That explosion drives jets that move out into the
material between the stars. And afterwards there's a huge nuclear explosion
that produced heavy elements, gold, platinum
and uranium. [slate]
[slate]
The gold in your ring was produced in an explosion like this but many, many millions
years ago. So the explosion drove the material out
into the medium between the stars where later it coalesced to form
the sun and our planets. [slate]
[slate]
This explosion was special
because in addition to seeing the gamma rays, the highest energy form of light
we also saw gravitational waves. We could see directly the
imprint of these two stars spiraling closer and closer together as they
caused ripples in space-time.
[slate]
Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time. Space-time is incredibly
dense. So to cause ripples you have to have some sort of
object that has enormous gravity like a black hole or a neutron star.
And when these objects are rapidly accelerating
they bend space-time and create these ripples that then travel through the universe
to our detectors on Earth.
[slate]
We detected this early in the morning
and immediately emails are flying backwards and forwards. People
realized that we'd kind of hit the jackpot with finally
seeing gravitational waves and normal light from the same event for the first time.
It was like the best day ever