Three and a half years after the collision of two stars, a strange X-ray glow is visible in the sky.
It could be the afterglow of the kilonova explosion that was generated by the merger, which could be produced by a shock wave from the explosion slamming into dust in the region of space around the explosion.
The glow could be produced by material ejected during the explosion falling back down onto the merged object.
The phenomenon appears to have never been detected before.
astronomer Aprajita Hajela says that they have entered uncharted territory in studying the aftermath of a neutron star merger.
We are looking at something new for the first time. This gives us the chance to study and understand new physical processes that have not been observed before.
The explosion that was detected on 17 August was an epic event. Astronomers had never detected the moment two stars slammed together and merged.
The event was captured using the new field of gravitational wave astronomy, but also in light across the spectrum.
A kilo nova blast was 1,000 times brighter than a classical nova. Heavy metals such as gold, Platinum, and uranium are formed in the blast's energetic environment, as well as near light-speed jets being ejected from the blast.
Astronomers continued to watch the region of the sky where it occurred, around 132 million light-years from the Solar System.
They noticed something strange in the X-ray wavelength. The source began to glow across the spectrum nine days after the burst. The glow faded quickly. This was thought to be a jet.
While the glow faded across most of the spectrum from 2020 to 2020, it continued to light up in the dark.
The X-ray is from NASA/CXC and the illustration is from M.Weiss.
An artist's impression of the glow from GW170817.
The fact that the X-rays stopped fading quickly was our best evidence yet that something in addition to a jet is being detected in X-rays in this source.
A completely different source of X-rays appears to be needed to explain what we are seeing.
The best fit for the glow is a shock from the collision that explodes into space. They say this is similar to a sonic boom on Earth, as material expands into the space around the merger, it slams into gas and causes an X-ray glow.
The formation of a black hole from the two stars is not a prompt process if this is the case.
The other explanation is that when the black hole formed, material around it fell onto it. The disk would emit X-radiation.
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Astronomers will continue to observe it to see how it changes. It is likely to go up in radio emissions over the next few years. Black hole accretion is likely if it continues steadily and then declines in brightness. It will tell us something new about the mergers.
Kate Alexander says that further study of GW170817 could have far-reaching implications.
The detection of a kilonova afterglow would suggest that the merger did not produce a black hole. Astronomers may be able to study how matter falls onto a black hole a few years after its birth.
The research will be published in the latest issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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