Five days after an August 17 gravitational wave event, the Hubble Space Telescope pointed its spectrograph at an associated bright flare called a kilonova (which is a thousand times brighter than a classical nova). The resulting spectrum of infrared light is difficult to interpret. Spectral lines can be used to identify individual chemical elements, however the material generating this glow is moving so fast that the lines are smeared out. The peak in brightness around a wavelength of 1,100 nanometers is predicted to come from a variety of radioactive elements collectively called lanthanides, which were generated by the collision of two neutron stars.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)Acknowledgment: A. Levan (University of Warwick), N. Tanvir (University of Leicester), and A. Fruchter and O. Fox (STScI)
| About The Data | |
|---|---|
| Data Description | Spectrum of a kilonova, showing the Lanthanide peak. |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
