Researchers from the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center studied archival
They found unusual light patterns indicating the brief existence of two superheavy neutron stars that quickly became black holes in observations in 1991 and 1993.
Researchers believe that these shortGRBs were caused by the collisions of two pairs of neutron stars, each of which merged into one superheavy one and later collapsed into a black hole. A neutron star forms when the core of a massive star runs out of fuel. When such a star collapses, a shock wave is formed that blows away the rest of the star in a supernova explosion.
Computer simulation of the collision of two neutron stars. Video: NASA
Observational data and computer simulationshowed that as a result of the collision of two neutron stars, a huge neutron star was formed, the mass of which is 20% more than the largest neutron star previously confirmed. It is also about twice the size of typical neutron stars.
The objects were spinning at a speed of almost 78,000 rpm.revolutions per minute, which is almost twice the speed of the fastest pulsar in the history of observations. This rapid rotation briefly kept massive stars from collapsing further. They lasted about 300 ms (0.3 s) after which they collapsed into black holes.
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