GW170817
 | This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This article was last edited by Mandot (talk | contribs) 7 years ago. (Update timer) |
 The GW170817 signal as measured by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors. Signal is invisible in the Virgo data | |
| Event type | Gravitational wave event  |
|---|---|
| Distance | 40.7 Mpc (133,000,000 ly) |
| Redshift | 0.0099 |
| Total energy output | ≈ |
| Other designations | GW170817 |
 Related media on Commons | |
GW170818 (tentative) is a possible gravitational wave signal detected by the LIGO observatory on 18 August 2017 by astronomer J. Craig Wheeler of the University of Texas at Austin.[1] Shortly afterwards, astronomer Peter Yoachim of the University of Washington in Seattle reported that LIGO had seen a signal with an optical counterpart from the NGC 4993 galaxy 40 Mpc (130 Mly) away in the Hydra constellation.[1] On 25 August 2017, the possible detection was reported in Nature (journal), making it the fourth such signal, after GW150914, GW151226 and GW170104.
Astrophysical origin
Preliminary suggestions may indicate that the gravitational wave event, detected on 18 August 2017, was associated with the collision of two neutron stars.[1][2][3] This stellar collision may be related to a gamma ray burst, now named GRB170817A, that was detected earlier, on 17 August 2017.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Casttelvecchi, Davide (25 August 2017). "Rumours swell over new kind of gravitational-wave sighting". Nature (journal). doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22482. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ Sokol, Joshua (25 August 2017). "What Happens When Two Neutron Stars Collide?". Wired (magazine). Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ a b Drake, Nadia (25 August 2017). "Strange Stars Caught Wrinkling Spacetime? Get the Facts". National Geographic (magazine). Retrieved 27 August 2017.
