Breakthrough science story of 2017

Toronto, Dec 27 (Canadian-Media): A strange occurrence was witnessed by the scientists around the world for the first time, as studied by observatories, on Aug 17 in which two neutron stars, one hundred and thirty million light-years away, spiraled into each other in a remarkable explosion  ranging from gamma ray detectors to radio telescopes, media reports said.

Besides confirming several key astrophysical models, the blast revealed a birthplace of many heavy elements is the first observation of a neutron-star merger revealing its scientific bounty is Science’s 2017 Breakthrough of the Year.
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The event of the radiation of spiraling neutron stars before they merged was spotted by detecting the infinitesimal ripples in space itself, called gravitational waves --  Science’s Breakthrough of 2016.

The merger reportedly posed puzzles challenging astrophysicists’ to do more research in such collisions.

Scientists also reportedly hope to see -- through gravitational-wave astronomy -- new and rare types of events, such as mergers of a neutron star and a black hole, or supernova explosions of individual stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

Astrophysicists are reportedly looking forward to see more unpredictable signals.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)