Jet from neutron stars seems to travel seven times the speed of light

An optical illusion created by the comparative positions of Earth and a brace of colliding neutron stars makes it look similar a pitchy of radiation is travelling astatine 7 times the velocity of airy - but thankfully nary laws of physics person been broken

Space 12 October 2022

By Alex Wilkins

An artist’s content of 2 neutron stars colliding

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

A pitchy of radiation from 2 colliding neutron stars appears to beryllium travelling astatine 7 times the velocity of light, according to measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope. Although this is simply an optical illusion, arsenic thing tin question faster than the velocity of light, it provides cardinal insights into mysterious gamma ray bursts, which aren’t afloat understood.

In 2017, astronomers astatine the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detected a wave, GW170817, produced from the collision of 2 neutron stars. This was …