Short Gamma-ray Bursts Traced to Colliding Stars

Astervitude writes "Collisions of the cosmic kind could be the source of one of nature's most lethal explosions. Astronomers have traced the origin of short-duration gamma-ray bursts, or GRBs, to the merger of neutron stars or other dense bodies. Space.com has a report on the scientific detective work that led to the solution of what has been described as a 35-year-old mystery. "Our observations do not prove the coalescence model, but we surely have found a lady with a smoking gun next to a dead body," said Shri Kulkarni, one of over two dozen astronomers who discovered and investigated two short-duration bursts that took place last May and July. Unlike short-duration GRBs, long-duration GRBs are believed to be produced when extremely massive stars collapse and explode as supernovas."

Comments

The Science Channel

[Namronorman]

The Science Channel has recently (by coincidence?) been showing a lot of programs talking about stars and the sun, and a very common topic has been Gamma Ray Bursts.

I just think it's weird how some things seem like a trend some times.

The idea of neutron stars colliding is a very old theory but this seems to shed new light on the possibility of it being the main cause.

You're right, they're massive enough.

[Spy der Mann]

I can only suppose that neutron stars have sufficient mass to bring about such a collision.

Actually, that's an understatement.

According to the wikipedia, a neutron star is about 1.5 times massive as the sun... and that would be about 1.5 × 2x10^30 kg = 3x10^30kg, but ONLY 12 miles in diameter. One can just imagine the gravitational force these things have.

I'd appreciate it if someone made calculation: If two neutron stars are say, 10,000 km far from each other, what will be the acceleration? (remember, the greater the mass, the greater the acceleration). And what speed will they have when they collide? Finally, what will be the kinetic force at the time of impact?