Spitzer infrared observations of a gravitational wave source—a binary neutron star merger

GW170817 is the name given to a gravitational wave signal seen by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 17 August 2017. Lasting for about 100 seconds, the signal was produced by the merger of two neutron stars. The observation was then confirmed – the first time this has happened for gravitational waves – by observations with light waves: the preceding five detections of merging black holes did not have (and were not expected to have) any detectable electromagnetic signals. The light from the neutron star merger is produced by the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei created in the event. (Neutron star mergers do more than just produce optical light, by the way: they are also responsible for making most of the gold in the universe.) Numerous ground-based optical observations of the merger concluded that the decaying atomic nuclei fall into at least two groups, a rapidly evolving and fast moving one composed of elements less massive than Lanthanide Series elements, and one that is more slowly evolving and dominated by heavier elements.