kilonova
Sign in to saveAlso known as knova, macronova, r-process supernova, KN, kilonovae, KNe
thumb|upright=1.4|Artist's impression of neutron stars merging, producing gravitational waves and resulting in a kilonova
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- astronomical phenomenon
- Subclass of
- supernova
- Named after
- r-process
- Image
- Eso1733s Artist's impression of merging neutron stars.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Kilonovae
- start time
- 2010-00-00
- has effect
- gravitational wave
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- History
- Theory
- Observations
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|upright=1.4|Artist's impression of neutron stars merging, producing gravitational waves and resulting in a kilonova
A kilonova (also called a macronova) is a transient astronomical event that occurs in a compact binary system when two neutron stars (BNS) or a neutron star and a black hole collide. The kilonova, visible over the weeks and months following the merger, is an isotropically expanding luminous afterglow of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized by—and then ejected from—the initial cataclysmic event.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “kilonova” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.