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Neutron Star Collision
Systems of orbiting neutron stars are born when the cores of two old stars collapse in supernova explosions. Neutron stars have the mass of our Sun but are the size of a city, so dense that boundaries between atoms disappear. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that the orbit shrinks from ripples of space-time called gravitational waves. After about 1 billion simulation years, the two neutron stars closely circle each other at 60,000 revolutions per minute. The stars finally merge in a few milliseconds, sending out a burst of gravitational waves.

A simulated collsion between two neutron stars, shown as translucent spheres. The flat circles are cross-sections through the equators, showing matter density increasing as colors move from yellow to blue to red.    A simulated collsion between two neutron stars, shown as translucent spheres. The flat circles are cross-sections through the equators, showing matter density increasing as colors move from yellow to blue to red.
Duration: 24.0 seconds
Available formats:
  352x240 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   3 MB
  160x80       PNG           19 KB
  80x40         PNG           6 KB
  320x238     JPEG         6 KB
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Animation Number:560
Completed:1999-01-21
Animators:Dave Bock (NASA) (Lead)
 John Shalf (NASA)
Scientists:Doug Swesty (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
 Alan Calder (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
 Ed Wang (State University of New York at Stony Brook)
Series:Images of Earth and Space
Video:SVS1999-0001 *
Keywords:
SVS >> Neutron Star
DLESE >> Space science
 
 
Please give credit for this item to
National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


*Please note: the SVS does not fulfill requests for copies of the tapes in our library. On some of our animation pages, there is a direct link to a video distribution service from which tapes, handled by the Public Affairs Office (PAO)/Goddard TV, including some of our animations may be ordered. General information on this service can be found here.


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