paper

How would a nearby kilonova look on camera?

arXiv:1905.01594 · doi:10.1119/10.0001193

Abstract

Kilonovae are cosmic optical flashes produced in the aftermath of the merger of two neutron stars. While the typical radiant flux of a kilonova can be as high as \,W, they typically occur at cosmological distances, requiring meter-class or larger telescopes for their observation. Here we explore how a kilonova would look like from Earth if it occurred in the Solar System's backyard, 1000 light years from Earth. This is a small distance on cosmological scales, with only one neutron-star merger expected to occur this close every 100,000,000 years. While humans will likely only see kilonovae at much greater distances, showing how such a nearby event would look on camera can help visualize these events, and demonstrate their unique spectral evolution.

arXiv comment6 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (11)