Well what is a kilonova afterglow you may ask? Well it is an epic cosmic event known as a "kilonova." Kilonovas occur after the collision of two hyper-dense neutron stars. The following article was presented at interestingengineering.com and written by Ameya Paleja that provides a bit more detail about this first observed kilonova afterglow:
"Researchers at the Northwestern University and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences may have potentially come across a kilonova afterglow, the first of its kind ever to be observed, according to a university press release.
A kilonova is the merger of two neutron stars that creates a blast 1,000 times brighter than a classical nova. On August 17, 2017, astronomers observed the first-ever neutron star merger, GW170817, using light as well as gravitational waves. Ever since researchers across the globe have been pointing ground and space telescopes towards this event to study it across the electromagnetic spectrum.
What the astronomers observed
Aprajita Hajela, a graduate student at Northwestern University, was also one of the many astronomers who was looking at GW170817. Using NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, Hajela and her team noticed that the merger event had created a jet emitting X-rays at speeds very close to those of light. Starting early 2018, the jet's X-ray emissions began to steadily fade as they slowed down and expanded. However, from March 2020, the dimming of emissions stopped and the jet's brightness stayed constant.
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"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," said Raffaella Margutti, an astrophysicist as well Hajela's advisor.
What could be behind the X-ray emissions?
The researchers believe that the expanding debris from the merger has generated a shock-much like a sonic boom from a supersonic plane. The shock is heating up the surrounding materials which are now emitting X-rays. This is the kilonova afterglow that hasn't been observed before.
An alternate explanation could be the merger of the neutron stars has created a black hole into which the debris is now falling and is emitting the X-rays prior to its fall. Even if either of the explanations is true, it would still be a first for the field of astronomy.
"We have entered uncharted territory here in studying the aftermath of a neutron star merger," said Hajela in the press release. "We are looking at something new and extraordinary for the very first time. This gives us an opportunity to study and understand new physical processes, which have not before been observed."
To find out which of these theories can explain the kilonova afterglow, the researchers will continue to observe GW170817 using X-rays and radiowaves. If it is the afterglow, the X-ray and radio emissions will get brighter over the next few months or years. However, if a black hole is causing this, the X-ray output will decline over time until no more emissions can be observed.
Either way, astronomers will either learn that a neutron star does not immediately form a black hole or be able to observe how debris falls into a black hole over a period of time.
The research is due to be published in The Journal of Astrophysical Letters. It is also available as a non-peer-reviewed publication at arxiv.org.
Study Abstract:
The binary neutron-star (BNS) merger GW170817 is the first celestial object from which both gravitational waves (GWs) and light have been detected enabling critical insight on the pre-merger (GWs) and post-merger (light) physical properties of these phenomena. For the first ∼3 years after the merger the detected radio and X-ray radiation has been dominated by emission from a structured relativistic jet initially pointing ∼15−25 degrees away from our line of sight and propagating into a low-density medium. Here we report on observational evidence for the emergence of a new X-ray emission component at δt>900 days after the merger. The new component has luminosity Lx≈5×1038ergs−1 at 1234 days, and represents a ∼3.5σ - 4.3σ excess compared to the expectations from the off-axis jet model that best fits the multi-wavelength afterglow of GW170817 at earlier times. A lack of detectable radio emission at 3 GHz around the same time suggests a harder broadband spectrum than the jet afterglow. These properties are consistent with synchrotron emission from a mildly relativistic shock generated by the expanding merger ejecta, i.e. a kilonova afterglow. In this context our simulations show that the X-ray excess supports the presence of a high-velocity tail in the merger ejecta, and argues against the prompt collapse of the merger remnant into a black hole. However, radiation from accretion processes on the compact-object remnant represents a viable alternative to the kilonova afterglow. Neither a kilonova afterglow nor accretion-powered emission have been observed before."d
Why is this important you may ask? It give us a bit more information how the Universe works the more we know the more we can venture outside our little world to explore others in our Universe.
Reference: https://interestingengineering.com/kilonova-afterglow-first-time
I have lost a lot of faith with the Medical Community and the Governments over the last several years, but there are a few good things that can raise above the corruption and the pushing of drugs a new approach to heal people. The following is from www.gaia.com and written by Hunter Parsons that does not involve any drug or pushing an ineffective so called vaccine that the drug company is not held accountable in any way but they use sound! The use of sound can regrow bone tissue! Here is the story:
"The future of regenerative medicine could be found within sound healing by regrowing bone cells with sound waves.
The use of sound as a healing modality has an ancient tradition all over the world. The ancient Greeks used sound to cure mental disorders; Australian Aborigines reportedly use the didgeridoo to heal; and Tibetan or Himalayan singing bowls were, and still are, used for spiritual healing ceremonies.
Recently, a study showed an hour-long sound bowl meditation reduced anger, fatigue, anxiety, and ...
Not a fan of a Defense Agency studying Anti-Gravity and other Exotic Tech, but if the commercial world and make this technology cheap that will change our world yet again. The following is about three minute read and from www.gaia.com. The below was written by Hunter Parsons:
"Wormholes, invisibility cloaks, and anti-gravity — it’s not science fiction, it’s just some of the exotic things the U.S. government has been researching.
A massive document dump by the Defense Intelligence Agency shows some of the wild research projects the United States government was, at least, funding through the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program known as AATIP.
And another lesser-known entity called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program or AAWSAP
The Defense Intelligence Agency has recently released a large number of documents to different news outlets and individuals who have filed Freedom of Information Act requests.
Of particular interest are some 1,600 pages released to Vice News, which ...
As our technology gets better we are discovering more about the history of mankind and pushing the timeline back further and further. The following article is from www.gaia.com and written by Michael Chary that discusses this new find that changes the historical timeline:
"Over the past decade, there have been a number of archeological revelations pushing back the timeline of human evolution and our ancient ancestors’ various diasporas. Initially, these discoveries elicit some resistance as archeologists bemoan the daunting prospect of rewriting the history books, though once enough evidence is presented to established institutions, a new chronology becomes accepted.
But this really only pertains to the era of human development that predates civilization — the epochs of our past in which we were merely hunter-gatherers and nomads roaming the savannahs. Try challenging the consensus timeline of human civilization and it’s likely you’ll be met with derision and rigidity.
Conversely, someone of an alternative...
Not sure if you have heard of a show on YouTube called "The Why Files". If not you should check it out it is interesting and has some humor with it on different subjects. Last weeks was on a different theory how the Universe works and how main stream Science is attempting to shut it down like is always seems to do if it goes aguest some special interest. Today it is akin to what happened to those who questioned the Earth was the Center of the Universe that main stream so called Science all believed during the Renaissance period, They called any theory that the Earth was not the Center of the Universe misinformation. Does this sound familiar today? People laughed and mocked people like Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Georg Purbach as crack-pots, conspiracy theorists, nut-jobs and they were suppressed and even imprisoned for their radical thoughts and observations. Again it sounds like today in so many ways. In any event this is a good one to ponder and see even if a bad idea ...
Seemingly chaotic systems like the weather and the financial markets are governed by the laws of chaos theory.
We all have heard about chaos theory, but if you have not or have forgotten what chaos theory is well here you go from interestingengineering.com:
"Chaos theory deals with dynamic systems, which are highly sensitive to initial conditions, making it almost impossible to track the resulting unpredictable behavior. Chaos theory seeks to find patterns in systems that appear random, such as weather, fluid turbulence, and the stock market.
Since the smallest of changes can lead to vastly different outcomes, the long-term behavior of chaotic systems is difficult to predict despite their inherently deterministic nature.
As Edward Lorenz, who first proposed what became commonly known as the Butterfly Effect, eloquently said, "Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.""
You may have heard the term about chaos theory as a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil,...
I for one have lost trust in Medical Doctors due to COVID and reflection that they seem to push pills for everything and untested so called vaccines that is using a unproven technology because the Government and the Medical Boards of the State told them to. There are a very few exceptions. Thus they do not address the key problem just prescribe more and more pills to keep you alive an sick longer for them and Big Phama to profit from you. Will AI do any better? Well that depends on what was used for the training of AI. If it also pushes pills and vaccines without question then you have the same problems noted above. However, if the AI Training includes all possible forms of treatment and they zero in on the right issues for the true problem then there is possibilities they would be way better than most of the current Medical Doctors today.
The following is from an article from interestingengineering.com and written by Paul Ratner:
"A new study looks at how accurately AI can diagnose patients. We interview the researcher, who weighs in on AI's role ...
