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Star Quakes and Monster Shock Waves


Caltech researchers simulate a black hole consuming a neutron star.

The Caltech- and MIT-led LIGO(Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory), which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), famously made the first direct detection of gravitational waves, generated from the coalescence of two black holes, in 2015. Still, it is possible that the neutron star–black hole mergers, even if they fail to produce a cloud of glowing material, might flash with brief radio and/or other electromagnetic signals right before and during the collisions. A major factor in the success of the team's recent neutron star–black hole simulations is the use of supercomputers containing GPUs (graphics processing units).

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Photo of star quakes

star quakes

Photo of monster shock waves

monster shock waves