Keyword: GOTO

When neutron stars collide, they produce a violent explosion. Data from the only well observed collision show that the explosion was perfectly spherical, completely contrary to expectations. How this is possible remains a mystery, but the discovery may provide a new key to fundamental physics and to measuring the age of the Universe. The discovery was made by an international collaboration led by astrophysicists from the University of Copenhagen and including researchers from the University of Turku. The research has just been published in the journal Nature.

The department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku is a partner in the international Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project, which will play a key role in shepherding in a new era of gravitational wave science. The GOTO observatory is made up of two identical telescope arrays on opposite sides of the planet that will track down sources of gravitational waves resulting from violent cosmic events that create ripples in the fabric of space-time itself.