News Astronomy

A neutron star collision may have emitted a fast radio burst

Gravitational waves from the smashup came from the same part of sky at almost the same time

illustration of two merging neutron stars in blue

A pair of merging neutron stars, like those shown in this artist’s illustration, could have both shaken spacetime and emitted a burst of bright radio waves. Astronomers thought this was possible, but hadn’t seen convincing evidence of it until now.

Dana Berry, Swift/NASA

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

A neutron star pileup may have emitted two different kinds of cosmic signals: ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves and a brief blip of energy called a fast radio burst.