A new computer simulation created by NASA details the collision between two neutron stars, signaling the birth of a black hole.
When these collapsed stars collide in outer space, they are torn apart from the forces between them. If they merge, the stars can form the most mysterious of all celestial objects, a black hole. This process is accompanied by the sudden release of vast quantities of gamma radiation.
All atoms are made up of a core of one or more positively charged protons and (usually) electrically-neutral neutrons. Far away from this nucleus, negatively-charged electrons orbit in clouds. When massive stars between eight to 20 times larger than our sun runs out of the final fuel and collapse, the mass is great enough to "break" the electron shells, collapsing the atoms. Electrons merge with protons creating additional neutrons. Soon, this stellar corpse mostly consists of ultra-dense neutrons. A single thimbleful of such matter possesses more mass than Mount Everest.
The supercomputer simulation shows a pair of stars, traveling toward each other in a spiral, as they are surrounded by a halo of gas and dust. A video showing the process takes less than 30 seconds to complete.
The video shows a pair of neutron stars with differing masses. One models such a remnant of 1.7 solar masses and the other 1.4 times as massive as our sun.
The simulation was created by researchers from the Albert Einstein Institute in Germany. The team was led by Luciano Rezzolla, from the Institute of Theoretical Physics.
Densities of gas in the simulation were represented by colors, making the influence of gravity on the stars easier to view.
In the video, the stars are seen coming closer to each other, circling around their common center of gravity, as the orbits decay inward, toward a doomed encounter.
"As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their centers," NASA wrote on the video description.
Once the stars explode, a black hole forms in a small fraction of a second. Outside the event horizon, a donut-shaped collection of gas, containing one-fifth the mass of our sun, forms from the material not consumed by the final collapse.
Video of the simulation is posted for viewing on the NASA Goddard YouTube page.
