Montclair State Professors, LIGO Make ‘Star-Shattering’ Discovery (WATCH)

MONTCLAIR, NJ — What do you get when two neutron stars collide? A “chirp” heard 130 million light years away, an international team of scientists says.

The smashing study comes via the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), an international cooperative of more than 1,200 scientists who share data as part of a large-scale physics experiment. Their goal? To detect and study ripples in the fabric of space-time called “gravitational waves.”

And that’s where the cosmic collision of Aug. 17 comes into play.

Montclair State University in New Jersey, which has two of its faculty members on the LIGO team - Rodica Martin and Marc Favata - provided the following explanation of why scientists are so excited:

“While averaging just 12 miles in diameter, neutron stars are so dense that a teaspoon of neutron star material has a mass of roughly a billion tons. In a distant galaxy, two neutron stars spiraled toward each other, emitting powerful gravitational waves before they crashed into each other, causing a burst of gamma rays. Their collision produced a ‘chirp’ recorded by detectors that lasted nearly 100 seconds. This happened 130 million light years away, in a galaxy 50 times farther than the Andromeda galaxy – the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.”

• See related article: Listen To These Black Holes Collide

Watch: Scientists Witness Huge Cosmic Crash

According to researchers, this is the first time a collision of two neutron stars – small, dense stars formed when huge stars explode in supernovas – has been detected using gravitational waves. It’s also the first time a gravitational-wave signal has been accompanied by coincident detections with conventional telescopes.

“It is tremendously exciting to experience a rare event that transforms our understanding of the workings of the universe,” said France Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation, which funds LIGO.

More details about the discovery and scientific implications can be seen here.

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"This is a really big deal,” Favata said. “Neutron star collisions are one of the key sources that LIGO was hoping to observe – and now we have. It’s also the loudest source that our network of detectors has found so far.”

According to Favata, the discovery has resolved a persistent mystery as to the origin of short-duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs). “It’s long been suspected that these GRB’s are due to the collision of two neutron stars, but that hasn’t been confirmed until now.”

The new observations also resolve long-standing speculation as to how heavy elements, such as gold and lead, are produced. A byproduct of the collision of the two neutron stars, these elements are distributed throughout the universe.

According to Martin, the discovery involved a team of electromagnetic astronomers, all working together with LIGO.

"Making joint observations with these partners has been a key goal for LIGO," Martin said.

Learn more about Martin and Favata's contributions to the star-smashing study here.

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Photo courtesy of LIGO / Montclair State University

Videos courtesy of LIGO