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[slate]

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[slate]

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[slate] We saw what happens when two

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neutron stars collide. Neutron stars are the smallest, most dense stars

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that we know of. The two stars spiraled in together

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In closer and closer and closer until they collide in a huge explosion

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That explosion drives jets that move out into the

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material between the stars. And afterwards there's a huge nuclear explosion

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that produced heavy elements, gold, platinum

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and uranium. [slate]

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[slate]

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The gold in your ring was produced in an explosion like this but many, many millions

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years ago. So the explosion drove the material out

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into the medium between the stars where later it coalesced to form

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the sun and our planets. [slate]

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[slate]

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This explosion was special

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because in addition to seeing the gamma rays, the highest energy form of light

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we also saw gravitational waves. We could see directly the

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imprint of these two stars spiraling closer and closer together as they

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caused ripples in space-time.

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[slate]

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Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time. Space-time is incredibly

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dense. So to cause ripples you have to have some sort of

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object that has enormous gravity like a black hole or a neutron star.

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And when these objects are rapidly accelerating

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they bend space-time and create these ripples that then travel through the universe

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to our detectors on Earth.

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[slate]

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We detected this early in the morning

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and immediately emails are flying backwards and forwards. People

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realized that we'd kind of hit the jackpot with finally

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seeing gravitational waves and normal light from the same event for the first time.

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It was like the best day ever