How Kilonovas Made the Earth and Killed Alternate Gravity - Ask a Spaceman!

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Part 2 of 2! How did the observation of a kilonova change astronomy? How did that one observation kill off alternate models of gravity? What’s in store for the future of gravitational waves? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
Follow all the show updates at www.askaspaceman.com, and help support the show at / pmsutter !
Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman for COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF TIME AND SPACE! Music by Jason Grady and Nick Bain.
Chapters:
00:00 One Afternoon in 2017
04:11 What is a Kilonova
09:23 What Happens During a Kilonova Explosion
14:40 How One Measurement Killed Alternate Gravity
15:50 The Future of Multi-Messenger Astronomy
Video credits: NASA, ESA, Planck, WMAP, Illustris

[@ChaosAttractor13]

My girlfriend in college signed up to take Astronomy for a semester. She wanted to learn how to tell fortunes. I had a very difficult time explaining why Astrology and Astronomy are not the same thing. Her argument was they both study stars. I gave up. Two years later, she is on the Deans list and made A’s in both the Astronomy classes she took. I had flunked out because I can’t do math. I don’t belong in this world. 😭😭😭😭😭

[@ryleexiii1252]

> “It’s not gonna be pretty” > Immediately shows an absolutely beautiful animation of a kilonova

[@michaelzumpano7318]

You’re an excellent speaker and teacher. This is the first time I’ve received a youtube recommendation for your channel. Subscribed!

[@murraynickel6377]

Same for me. Thankyou Paul, that was a fascinating and clear video.

[@lugyd1xdone195]

Same

[@godagarah-kf1vk]

same for me as well very educational

[@0neIntangible]

As a recently new subscriber, I love his knowledge and passion for these interesting topics.

[@okd521]

When I hear about killanovas I always think about the lesser-known Godzillanovas, that can only be seen from Japan

[@olecranonrebellion9976]

Someone once found a kilo of cocaine in the Dash of a 73 ss Nova

[@okd521]

@@olecranonrebellion9976 I once found an ounce of cocaine. Since I'm virtually immune to it it didn't do shit for me

[@josephjohnson3738]

Just as likely to exist too.

[@roseCatcher_]

They can actually be observed using the LIGMA observatories situated at Nintendo headquarters.

[@Dice-Z]

​@@roseCatcher_ Ligma double colliding neutron stars.

[@Tread69]

Keep it up Paul, you make what I’ve always found interesting, even more so.

[@larryyoung5757]

How incredibly interesting and insightful. It makes one humble to appreciate even a small aspect of the universe so long ago.

[@tombock336]

The fact that this is what goes on in the universe we live in. 🤯. Incredible.

[@Whiteshoelace]

Incredible compared to what?

[@weluvmike]

100!! Simply Astounding; *Compared to The Mundane!!

[@kereiltutt5769]

@@Whiteshoelace events like this dont really have to compare to anything...they are pretty incredible in their own right

[@InfamousX1000]

@@Whiteshoelace compared to what we used to think about the universe basically. The concept of dead matter is often used to describe matter in the sense that it is simply a material object that exists in space posing no will of its own, yet we keep discovering these amazing things that it can do. I know, technically matter shows no will of it’s own, but from everything I’ve learned about matter is that it is definitely not dead. Our understanding of our universe keeps expanding with each generation, what we know now might not even be the most amazing thing the next generation knows.

[@joselucnico]

Yes and in the same time, missiles fall on Ukraine, incredible.

[@georgetate6055]

I've just finished watching . . . what a great video! Something I somehow missed is the 2017 Kilonova! How could I have missed this huge event? Thank you!

[@lastsilhouette85]

and omg....dude, the universe just looked at our new theories and was just like "hah, nope!" Dozens of theories just all died in one fell swoop! That's intense.

[@bgbraker]

Where should we be mining this gold?

[@Chrisdemartell]

​❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊 .... . ..... P Pl.... .

[@wayneyadams]

When you say "The Universe" I assume you mean God, because the Universe has no consciousness.

[@Sonny_McMacsson]

@@wayneyadams Wrong

[@wayneyadams]

@@Sonny_McMacsson I yield! The supreme authority on everything in the universe has made his declaration, I am wrong! So you as the final arbiter of everything is saying the universe is conscious.

[@goncalocarvalho4917]

Very good video,. Great communicator indeed, explaining complex stuff with humor and accessibility, well done

[@tracytomlinson2888]

That explanation was so illuminating. Thanks for making it palatable for someone who loves this subject with very little knowledge of physics.

[@bernardputersznit64]

GREAT WORK THIS - PLEASE DO KEEP IT UP

[@mistyjohnson4794]

Thank you so much for your expert explanations. I love how you bring with your personality and make it more fun and interesting especially your sense of humor! And I love the word, modern day, slang, urban dictionary, definitions you give! Instead of all the textbook craziness that science gives! Never stop being you !! You bring fun and life to the story! Thank you

[@dragonrabbit7410]

great telling of a significant scientific event! somehow i either missed hearing about it or had forgotten about reading it in a headline. very informative!

[@goemboeck]

A great passionate presentation, thank you!

[@granadosvm]

Great video! Informative, provides all kind of reviewable sources, so anyone with more interest can dive deeper. 👍 Gained a subscriber.

[@robertcongdon6296]

A truly informative and excellent episode Paul !

[@squirlmy]

truly a work of slack?

[@davecurtis8833]

Great video Paul

[@daffidavit]

Excellent presentation. Thank you, professor.

[@willinwoods]

Great vid, thanks!

[@ballBozeman]

Thanks. I learned so much.

[@richardknott2021]

Excellent presentation..

[@wicked1172]

I love the intellectual stimulation, kudos !

[@dark808bb8]

amazing stuff!

[@yolyrom7233]

Excellent info

[@FaxanaduJohn]

Deserves way more subs!

[@JessieJussMessy]

Spectacular presentation of a spectacular event

[@markusmencke8059]

13:40 the gamma should be later by tangling with matter, not faster?

[@chaz693]

I think that was a slip up. Earlier in the video he said the opposite. He's an excellent communicator otherwise.

[@johnkufeldt3564]

Thanks for educating me, Liked and subbed. Cheers from Calgary. It only took me 6 years to find out that a once in a 100000 year event happened during my ever so brief blip of time we all spend together on our little blue marble.

Great video. Thanks

[@cheekiblin690]

A little long but still a great video! Gravitational waves sound so amazing and so terrifying at the same time!

[@melissagrosse1185]

😂😂😂 long....

[@Yabberfrat]

140 years long!!! [I thought the length was perfect]

[@aforementioned7177]

Absolutely, mind bogglingly amazing.

[@rolie9403]

The fake typing at 0:36 kills me 😂

[@kurthanson4106]

I'm picking up on your passion... and I like it.

[@user-yz5em8xr1h]

Exciting stuff! It fills one of the multitude of gaps in our understanding of our Universe!

[@MonsterSound]

I felt that bro. Take care and thanks. 😎👍

[@johnh539]

beautifully explained.

[@markscheinfeld3020]

New to channel...subscribed.

[@jamesshevnin981]

Is there any way to learn what applications & renderers were used to create this amazing imagery?

[@markkrill]

Great explanation of killonovas

[@richardhoover4471]

Wow! Just wow!! So glad I live in this universe!

[@sirfer6969]

5 min in, instant like and subscription

[@MelvinCruz]

A few days prior to watching this video a friend of mine that is history professor tells me she don't watch KZbin videos because that are not a scientific paper...so bad for her because a paper never will explain in few words how really something affects scientific knowledge that includes the study of history. Thanks for this fantastic video.

[@montanateri6889]

Wow, this was utterly facinating! You are so clear, so understandable for a layman, (why 'layman"? I'm a lay-grandma😀 ) This ties so much knowlege to a single event, and of course (!) there are emails flying when something is observed, no longer is cosmic events something that people find out about years later, this is shared in a second flat, a "hey, turn your telescope to x spot in the sky!" what a wonderous time of expanding knowledge we are all in! You popped up in my youtube vids list, and what a find you are! I've subscribed and will flip backwards to watch prior vids and that is exciting to me!

[@FatT45]

Hey Revelations tells us that in the last days knowledge will be increased and people will move to and fro across the Earth! May all come to the glory of Jesus so that all heads are bowed and knees bent! God bless you

[@Scapestoat]

@@FatT45 There's a cool science grandma geeking out, and your first thought was "I should spout some vague pointless religion at her"? Jesus would be disappointed in you.

[@AlienRelics]

5:47 If the gravity were so strong that light could orbit, it would be a black hole, not a neutron star.

[@dankoppel6271]

For a black hole, light orbits at 1.5 times the Schwarzschild radius while typical neutron star radii are 3 times the Schwarzschild radius so yes that seems right. By the way, the light orbits around a BH are not stable so they only have somewhat academic existence.

[@dalelerette206]

August 2017 something big happened. This 'gravitational wave' was significantly longer. It is interesting to note: The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by some media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. It was also visible as a partial solar eclipse from as far north as Nunavut in northern Canada to as far south as northern South America. In northwestern Europe and Africa, it was partially visible in the late evening. In northeastern Asia, it was partially visible at sunrise.

[@MIN0RITY-REP0RT]

More good information here, less hiding behind "Relativity this or that", and someone actually being able to say upfront they don't know what "dark energy" is.

[@jamesharmer9293]

Just saw one of Paul's videos from back in 2017 and I'm so glad to see how much healthier he looks in this video. I don't know whether it was a severe attack of jaundice or just a dodgy video camera, but it's nice to see that he's not about to drop dead from liver failure.

[@FaxanaduJohn]

I’ve been watching Sutter for at least that long and that’s definitely a bit over the top.

[@anirudhadhote]

Very good 👍🏼

[@nettewilson5926]

So cool to learn how heavier elements are created and that they are not created in supernovas (which I think I had learned at this be point)! But how can you say a kilo nova is not as powerful as a supernova since it creates such large gravitational waves?

[@Cliff.Hanger]

Paul, can you please clarify. You said something twice which appears to me to be contradictory. You said that the gravitational waves are launched first and the gamma are held up a while. Yes, I believe that is the case. But you also said that the gamma rays were detected 1.3 seconds before the gravitational waves (time stamp 13:50). Did you mean the gravitational waves appear first then the gamma rays arrive 1.3 seconds after?

[@kaia.giermann5239]

dr. paul m.sutter: At 13:45 - I don't understand why the gamma rays arrived first if they interact more with the environment (and of course the impact came first, that makes the grav waves and then the explosion making the emp) or is it just mixed up in the explanation or did I got something wrong as a non native speaker?

[@XRP747E]

That was a really stimulating video! Thank you - a year late.

[@thetruthexperiment]

Considering these extremely isolated and sensitive detectors haven’t been around for very long should be good enough to assume that these signals aren’t a huge fish every single time. I love that you said “routine black hole collisions.”

[@AsteroSSB]

This is now my favourite video to send to people that often ask me: Hey Badonk, how is it that we are made of stardust?

[@Wise4HarvestTime]

Amazing 🤩

[@stevenpilling5318]

I had no idea that LIGO's kilonova event was of such importance!

[@matgeezer2094]

Really interesting video. Just wondered - how well can 3 gravitational wave detectors narrow down the search area? Also, does a kilonova send out a burst of neutrinos? Were an excess of neutrinos observed?

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

Very Good - Thank You ! ! ! 🙂😎👍

[@MrJdsenior]

That's amazing. The detection and publications, as well. I can't even get my head around things bending spacetime to send out waves detectable from HUMONGOUS distances. And I used to think Supernovae were spectacular. So from what you said, I'm assuming that gravitational lensing would not work on gravity waves the way it does on light? My other thought was, "And poof, there goes many theoretical physicists work, up in smoke in an instant". If so, ouch.

[@manhandler]

Wouldn't gravitational waves cause lensing? And by extension time distortion would keep them moving forever while expanding. Truly amazing time we live in.

[@wknajafi]

thank you

[@mikolajtrzeciecki1188]

I am very happy that Heavy Metal creation resonates so positively in Space, and has been doing so at least for 140 mln yrs.

[@TerryBollinger]

Nice analysis. Also, I learned that the official name for heavy-element generating neutron star collisions is "kilonova."

[@Mr.Nichan]

13:40 If the gamma rays and the gravitational rays were emited at the same time, and the gamma rays got blocked or deflected more than the gravitational waves, then the gravitational waves would arrive first. Thus, your explanation makes it sound like it IS surprising that the gamma rays arrived first. This problem is easily solved if we just assume that they were emitted first, though.

[@shadowpoet4398]

I've been obsessed with exotic quasars forever... This is one of the most exciting things I've ever heard. Thank you Mr. Einstein, for making your own observation and giving these fine young people a target to reach. The truest words a scientist can utter are "I hope you can prove me wrong."

[@wayneyadams]

My graduate research in the 1980s was on quasars back when we did not know what they were.

[@smo-king6504]

@@wayneyadams tell us more please!

[@AdrianMartan]

@@smo-king6504 There's no universe as they want us to believe. Heliocentric model theory is a fairy tale for adults.

[@shaqilleraneldojacobs1275]

This is 4real mind boggling 🤯

[@wayneyadams]

The universe is absolutely incredible. I am still in awe of what goes on. We know so much more than we did when I was in graduate school in the 1980s. Heck, we were still not sure what quasars were. My professor was still doing research on quasars. Now, a mere 40 years or so later, not only have we solved that problem, but have gotten to the stage where we can detect gravitational waves and identify the event from which they emanated.

[@chrismay25]

Whats even funnier is what we “thought” a year ago has already changed haha. Hence “science” what we really do not know but what we think until proven wrong lmfao

[@seankelly1291]

Ok. I'll apologize in advance. But I need you to clarify something, please. In your words, "the gamma ray radiation (the light/emr) got 'tangled up' in (the debri field of the explosion), in the gravity waves, and the gravitational waves "sailed right through." So how does that make the gravitational waves faster than the gamma waves? Thank you for clarifying. Love the video. Especially about how kilonovas are necessary for heavier elements.

[@troybradshaw8781]

You get the same effect if something hits our gravity well too hard and fast. It can be mistaken because of the heat flash. I've always been interested in neutron stars. They are estimated to shrink until a thimble full would weigh as much as a aircraft carrier. 82,000 tons. It's mind blowing.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

13:50 You messed-up there. Gamma rays (γ-ray) are light, which interact with EM, so would be the ones to get tangled-up, and should arrive _AFTER_ gravitational waves (by your explanation). Pin a correction perhaps, with a new explanation? 📌

[@Aussie23456]

Do the gravitational waves travell,at the speed of light186,000 miles per second. or how is the gravitational wave senced so quickly being at a large distance from that which senced the gravitational wave showing something of a simarity to earthly ,seismic waves ,showing the start and increase and fall of the magnitude of seismic waves as an earthquake signified a tearing in or under or over a fault within a tectonic plate

[@Yabberfrat]

I will look through the comments but you did mean to say that the gravity waves arrived first, correct? You twice said the gamma rays got there first but you also said that light was tangled up in escaping the explosion vs the gravity waves and that the gravity waves were able to "just sail on throug" unimpeded by the explosion. Or did you mean the gamma rays arrived first before the visible portion spectrum of the light? That part was kind of confusing..../

[@justaguy4real]

17:20 great that they selflessly work together for the greatest good now instead of trying to seriously compete for credit.

[@alnilam2151]

Were there many unknown\yet2be identified elements observed within said kilonovas' spectrum bandwidth? Or, is that even possible Paul unidentified observations or justanother sillyquestion? Thanks❣🔭👀

[@MrJdsenior]

Had the same thought. I don't know how you would even detect them, though, given that they might be stable for microseconds or nanoseconds.

[@neilreynolds3858]

That sounds like a very good question to me. If there is a zone of stability out beyond the mass number of what we know is stable, would we be able to detect it in a kilonova exposition?

[@mayerkorchin-vv9vt]

I have never heard of this before.

[@QuartuvLarry]

Made in 2021. Got a HUGE gamma ray burst this last October. Came from over 2 billion light years distant, but was still strong enough to make our atmosphere expand for about 2 hours

[@BlackMasterRoshi]

👽👾

[@Shinobubu]

that 1.3 second delay is easily explained as small lag in our instrumentation and synchronization.

[@andrel8243]

Great

[@nobiggeridiot]

Side question, is it possible to image a neutron star in visible optical spectrum ?

[@chaz693]

Yeah they have been observing pulsars for a really long time

[@aforementioned7177]

3 questions though. Where is the BH or Neutron Star that's left over from the Kilonova that created the stuff our solar system is made of? Should it not be relatively close to us, a few light years away? Can we detect it in some way?

[@infinitemonkey917]

What happens after 2 neutron stars collide ? Do you have 1 big one or maybe a black hole ?

[@krisharkleroad8]

Yes.

[@Dave2170]

Stretched that out over 18 minutes.

[@pittyman]

We are now waiting for observing by one of these & meganova, giganova and teranova...😎

[@stevoplex]

Wow! I remember that, I awoke from fitful sleep that morning as if my brother slapped the top of my head with a warm, fairly dense pancake. Except there was no pancake. And my brother, a geophysicist was in Switzerland. I called him later, asking if he had been playing "spooky action at a distance " with me. Nope. So today, I found out what it may have been, though I had no clue beforehand. Science is cool.

[@space_artist_4real138]

If light can orbit a neutron star, doesn't that mean that to escape this orbit an object needs to exceed the speed of light? Meaning this is a black hole? Or could it be an elliptical orbit and it is possible to escape and there's something I'm not understanding?

[@sidviscous5959]

But I thought Einstein maintained that gravity was an artifact of curved space-time. If gravity is instead a wave, then what energy is carried by this wave and how does it interact with matter? If gravity waves exist, shouldn't we be able to create a "tractor beam" like they had on Star Trek? And ultimately shouldn't we be able to create antigravity devices? And since time and space are the same thing, according to Einstein, if we can control gravity, shouldn't we be able to create a "time machine"? Enquiring minds want to know.

[@nutbunny10]

The wave is an oscillation of space-time & so it's a periodic bending of space-time which introduces the gravity.

[@ChelimYrneh]

Interesting ! But you inverted the arrival times of gamma-rays & ‘gravitational waves’ ~ you said the light ( I.e. gamma-rays ) got “tangled up” momentarily with matter on it’s way out, hence slightly delayed, whilst ‘gravitational waves’ were not affected by such delaying interactions - yet your premise is that the gamma-rays arrived FIRST !!

[@chriscordray8572]

I always believe we started in a nova, not in condensed materials. A Super Nova explosion would create all the materials in milliseconds. Imagine 2 sun's collide.

[@richardsykes9692]

I was under the impression that even in merging galaxies the vast distance between stars means none will ever collide with another. So how do the two neutron stars come to be close enough to collide? (they’re only a few kilometres in diameter and light years distant)

[@manw3bttcks]

Many stars are in binary systems where the stars formed together in orbit. If they both die and become neutron stars they will eventually spiral together and collide

[@wayneyadams]

@@manw3bttcks Exactly right. In fact, you can replace "many" with "most."

[@manhandler]

That's one possibility, but some stars and black hole wander through galaxies at incredible speeds and their own gravity is so great it pulls other star toward them, 2 neutron stars would draw each other closer faster and faster as they got closer, this would take millions of years and massive gravity wells. As our milky ways center (blackhole) eventually every star planet etc.. will end up there.

[@mariusb5150]

Interesting and some nice pictures ... but really, those office scenes???

[@jerrychurch9011]

Where do Magnetars relate in this if at all?

[@davidchurch3472]

What radioactive elements were left in the kilonova you collected, after all the atoms had been squished until ALL their protons and electrons became neutrons?

[@BenjaminOwenSlattery]

Wow, kilanovas are a goldmine!

[@seankelly1291]

140million years ago!!!!!!! That distance is mind blowing.

[@wayneyadams]

13:58 What?! If the gravitational waves came straight out while the gamma rays were delayed, shouldn't the gamma ray have arrived AFTER the gravitational waves, not before? 14:13 1.3 seconds in 140 million years would be well within experimental error. It is 2.9 parts in 10^15 (2,9 parts in a million billion, or 3 pennies in ten trillion dollars). I don't think there are any experiments ever done in the whole history of Physics and Chemistry that had that kind of precision.

[@marknovak6498]

Good Commentary. My only question is perhaps the far more massive population-three stars might still need to be studied as a source.

[@zanebertoli4589]

At 14 min you say the light (gamma rays) arrived first, and then say this is because they got tangled up in the nova mess, whereas the gravity waves didn't have this issue. This is not right, the GW reached us first, followed by the gamma. You said it backwards.

[@allensacharov5424]

After hearing this I reread "I heard the learn'd astronomer" by Walt Whitman

[@manuelnovella39]

Holy fuck, that was suuuuper interesting

[@Zithorius]

If the Gamma Rays still arrived first when they were bouncing around and getting tangled up in the matter from the collision, doesn't that mean that grav waves do in fact NOT travel at the speed of light even if they lag behind just barely (and only detecably if there's a length of space to build the separtion of hundreds of millions of lightyears)? I even did the math, the gravity moved at 0.999999999999999999999999017826964744152568383 plus like 90 decimal spots times the speed of light which is hella close but still behind the speed the gamma rays traveled. Since gravity deals with space itself, my assumption would be that if it affects causality at lightspeed, then the gamma rays were 'surfing' on the grav waves, an extreme condition that allows for light to move slightly faster than 299792458 meters per second or that space and gravity cannot keep up with light, I would certainly not settle on a 1.3 second difference over 140 million years as 'the same'. I mean I get 5+ sigma but in this case specifically, I'd settle for no less than a proper explanation for the discrepancy even if it means 'back to the drawing board'.