HomeAstronomyAstronomers poised to hunt new kind of gravitational wave

Astronomers poised to hunt new kind of gravitational wave

Astronomers are getting closer to finding sources of continuous gravitational waves, thanks to observations of Scorpius X-2, a neutron star accreting matter from a low-mass binary companion.

So far, astronomers have only detected gravitational waves in the form of brief bursts from the mergers of black holes and neutron stars. However, non-merging compact objects can in theory produce a nonstop torrent of gravitational waves, albeit weaker than those emitted by mergers. In particular, low-mass X-ray binary systems, in which a dense neutron star sweeps up matter torn from a close companion star, are likely suspects for emitting continuous gravitational waves.

RELATED ARTICLES
- Advertisment -
Google search engine

Most Popular

Recent Comments