Photograph: Albert Sneppen/ReutersPhotograph: Albert Sneppen/ReutersAstronomers have observed what might be the “perfect explosion”, a colossal and utterly spherical blast triggered by the merger of two very dense stellar remnants called neutron stars shortly before the combined entity collapsed to form a black hole.
“It is a perfect explosion in several ways. It is beautiful, both aesthetically, in the simplicity of the shape, and in its physical significance,” said astrophysicist Albert Sneppen of the Cosmic Dawn Center in Copenhagen, lead author of the research published in the journal Nature. “To be honest, we are really going back to the drawing board with this,” Cosmic Dawn Center astrophysicist and study co-author Darach Watson said.
The two briefly formed a single massive neutron star that then collapsed to form a black hole, an even denser object with gravity so fierce that not even light can escape.