The physics highlight of 2017 – and our breakthrough of the year – was the first ever multimessenger astronomy observation that involved the detection of gravitational waves. It was the spectacular ...

GW170817 is the code name given to a gravitational wave (GW) signal back in August 2017. With a duration of about 100 seconds, the GW bears the characteristics of binary stars resolving around and ...

The GW170817 neutron-star merger was by no means an instantaneous event. Physicists working on the LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave detectors were able to watch the two stars spiral towards each other ...

On August 17, 2017, astronomers witnessed an extraordinary celestial event: a collision between two ultra-dense neutron stars. Scientists had never seen anything quite like it, leading to much ...

When the most massive stars reach the ends of their lives, they blow up in spectacular supernova explosions, which seed the universe with heavy elements such as carbon and iron. Another type of ...