Neutron star merger visualized

This video shows a computer simulation of two neutron stars merging, showing threedimensional visualizations of the data. The simulation models an event like the one responsible for the first gravitational waves detected by @LIGOVirgo in 2017 from a neutron star coalescence (GW170817). For general background information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW170817 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave The scientific details are described in the publication: W. Kastaun and F. Ohme, “Numerical inside view of hypermassive remnant models for GW170817”, Phys. Rev. D 104 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.023001 The video shows research done by the research group “Binary Merger Observations and Numerical Relativity” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (AEI) Hannover: https://www.aei.mpg.de/BinaryObservationsNR Simulations and raytracing performed on the “Holodeck” cluster at AEI by Wolfgang Kastaun. Extra credits: thanks to the SOHO observatory for images of the sun, to @smartereveryday for the slow motion bird footage, and to the developers of @BlenderOfficial, the free open source raytracing software.