Potential progenitor of kilonova explosion first discovered in the Galaxy
For the first time, astronomers have discovered a binary star system in the Milky Way, which in the future may cause a kilonova explosion as a result of the merger of two neutron stars, with the work being published in the journal Nature, TASS reports
Kilonova is a powerful cosmic flash resulting from the collision of two neutron stars. For a long time, kilonova flares remained the subject of theoretical discussions, but three years ago, the gravitational observatories LIGO and ViRGO recorded space-time fluctuations generated by a similar event in the nearby galaxy NGC 4993, 140 million light years away from the Milky Way.
As scientists note, the discovery of the kilonova in the galaxy NGC 4993 has caused controversy about the occurrence of cataclysms and the regions of space in which they are best searched. In particular, scientists cannot yet say exactly how pairs of neutron stars are formed that can generate kilonova explosions, and whether they can arise inside binary star systems as a result of supernova explosions.
