Kilonovas are a type of explosion that is smaller than a supernova, but still epic in scale and important to study.
When you picture the source of precious metals like gold and platinum, you likely think about digging them up from the ground or mining them from a cave. But how did those metals get in the ground in the first place? They must have come from somewhere. And according to one commonly held astronomical theory, the origin of at least some of these metals is from explosions deep in space.
Kilonovas are a type of explosion that is smaller than a supernova, but still epic in scale. A kilonova occurs when two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole, collide. A neutron star is similar to a black hole in that it is an extremely dense core of a dead star, and is given its name because almost all of the star is made of neutrons. But it’s not quite as dense as a black hole.
That’s why when two black holes collide they create an explosion so powerful that they make ripples in space-time called gravitational waves and can send out huge explosions of light. When there is an explosion between a slightly less dense neutron star and a black hole, the explosion it creates is called a kilonova, which gives off gamma-ray bursts and emits light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.
The brightness of a kilonova is between 1% and 10% that of a supernova, so they aren’t the brightest events in the sky. But they are still bright enough to be seen from great distances, and astronomers are interested in studying them to learn how dense bodies merge and what the effects of such massive collisions can be.
