Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / CI Lab
This image shows the hot, dense, expanding cloud of debris that was removed from the neutron stars just before they collided. This cloud produces a kilonova; this is an astronomical event that occurs when two neutron stars or a Neutron star and a black hole merge into each other. This cloud shows the visible and infrared light. Large quantities of some of the heaviest elements in the universe, including hundreds of gold and platinum, were forged in these neutron-rich rubble.
A kilonova (also known as a macronova or R-process supernova) is a transient astronomical event that occurs in a compact binary system when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge. Kilonovae are believed to emit brief bursts of gamma rays and strong electromagnetic radiation due to radioactive decay of heavy R-process nuclei that are generated and ejected rather isotropically during the fusion process.
