EPISODE · Aug 23, 2022 · 1H 21M
Colliding Neutron Stars, Gravity Waves, and the Origin of the Heavy Elements
from Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures · host Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
with Prof. Eliot Quataert (University of California, Berkeley)In the previous decade, one third of the world's astronomers became involved in a single project -- observing a distant and violent event, when two "star corpses" called neutron stars collided and exploded. This represented the first time in the history of astronomy that a cosmic event was observed with both gravity waves (first predicted by Einstein) and light. We now call this event the birth of "multi-messenger astronomy." Dr. Quataert gives a non-technical history of how we are now able to find gravity waves, what happens during such a merger, and why we now believe that much of the gold, platinum, uranium and other heavy elements in the universe is assembled in such "star corpse" mergers. Recorded Jan. 24, 2018.
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with Prof. Eliot Quataert (University of California, Berkeley) In the previous decade, one third of the world's astronomers became involved in a single project -- observing a distant and violent event, when two "star corpses" called neutron stars collided and exploded. This represented the first time in the history of astronomy that a cosmic event was observed with both gravity waves (first predicted by Einstein) and light. We now call this event the birth of "m...
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Colliding Neutron Stars, Gravity Waves, and the Origin of the Heavy Elements
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