The intense gravitational waves from the collision of a neutron star and a mysterious object have left scientists puzzled.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), located in the United States, has detected an unprecedented type of signal, revealing a “floating” object between two forms of cosmic “monsters.”
According to Live Science, this object carries a powerful energy that can only be explained as a neutron star or a stellar-mass black hole.
The neutron star and the mysterious object emit gravitational waves, shaking spacetime in a dance of merging – (Graphic image from the research team).
- Neutron stars are the remnants of massive stars that have died, collapsing into a compact form with a tremendous magnetic field.
- Stellar-mass black holes are smaller black holes but still significantly heavier than neutron stars, which can be the remnants of supermassive stars but may also be neutron stars that have “died” again.
With this object, the measurements have completely baffled researchers: It is larger than the largest known neutron stars but smaller than the smallest black holes.
Specifically, it is something heavier than the Sun by 2.5 to 4.5 times, exceeding the neutron star mass limit of no more than 2.5 times the Sun.
However, the minimum mass limit for a black hole must be five times that of the Sun.
For a long time, some scientists have suspected that something must exist in the mass range between these two objects.
According to astrophysicist Michael Zevin from the Adler Planetarium (USA), a member of the multinational research team, this mysterious object could be the answer.
The authors suggest that it is evidence for a more complex stellar evolution phase than we previously thought, where a heavy neutron star dies again and collapses into a black hole.
The signals from the mysterious object were detected due to its collision with a neutron star located 650 million light-years away from us.
This duo has been “dancing” around each other, beginning their merger 650 million years ago. Thus, after an equivalent period, the gravitational waves from this merger reached the observatories on Earth.
