RX J0806.3+1527 Gravitational Wave Merger

This artist concept depicts two white dwarfs called RX J0806.3+1527 or J0806, swirling closer together, traveling in excess of a million miles per hour. As their orbit gets smaller and smaller, leading up to a merger, the system should release more and more energy in gravitational waves. This particular pair might have the smallest orbit of any known binary system. They complete an orbit in 321.5 seconds - barely more than five minutes.
Credit: GSFC/D.Berry

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• White
• Dwarf
• Gravitational
• Wave
• Merger

[RayDandy]

sheesh, and i thought tsunamis were powerful.....

[Gergenci]

2012... -.-

[JulianSpire]

@haveNOuse4aNAME If I am retarded, why is it you who confuses rotational period with orbital velocity?

[haveNOuse4aNAME]

@JulianSpire You are retarded. The reason they made each orbit shorter is because its a simulation of the stars merging over the next X years.

[JulianSpire]

An excellent animation, save for two points. Firstly, when I last checked, the J0806 A-J0806 B (RX J0806.3+1527) system has a rotational period of five minutes. This looks like its several seconds. Secondly, I think the spinning matter fails to capture the splendor of the dust disk.

And yes, MrPartypie, it was lame.

[MrPartypie]

that reminds me of your mum and i getting it on last night.... sorry that was lame

[willdeyl]

We would all - Earth, and all the people on it - be crunched together into the size of an atom. (Of course, depending on the age, and size of each Black Hole)

[URIZHEY]

0:29 pure destruction @_@

[Tealwulf]

Wow, that'd be one HELL of a thing to see.

[topolisianopolis]

wtf was that?