Black holes and neutron stars merge unseen in dense star clusters

Re:Black holes and neutron stars merge unseen in dense star ... by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday May 19, 2020 @08:57AM (#23234334)

Interesting reading! But I take issue with the title. The article says

   "Laser Interferometer Gravitational Waves Observatory" (LIGO) in the USA, are able to detect these waves.

So not unseen, in as they've been seen :)

Curiously, its the fact that there was no visible light, that suggests it was this particular collision. Vs two black holes or two neutron stars. So I guess an indirect observation. Boy are astrophysicists clever!

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Re:Black holes and neutron stars merge unseen in dense star ... by NikolaeVarius on Tuesday May 19, 2020 @10:21AM (#23235143)

The title is perfectly fine.

The article made it perfectly clear what is happening

> The fusion of a black hole with a neutron star was first observed by gravitational wave observatories in August 2019. Yet optical observatories around the world were unable to locate an electromagnetic counterpart in the region from which the gravitational wave signal originated, suggesting that the black hole had completely devoured the neutron star without first destroying it. If confirmed, this could be the first observed black hole-neutron star merger detected in a dense stellar environment, as described by Dr. Arca Sedda.

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Re:Black holes and neutron stars merge unseen in dense star ... by detritus on Tuesday May 19, 2020 @10:19AM (#23235127)

If we don't perceive this event using the electromagnetic spectrum, is it fair to state that it remains un'seen' as such?

We need a verb for gravitational perception!

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Re:Black holes and neutron stars merge unseen in dense star ... by eganist on Tuesday May 19, 2020 @12:30PM (#23236808)

I mean, events that are seen are a subset of events that are observed. So with that in mind, "observed" is probably sufficient.

Another example: you can observe a fire by smelling it.

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Re:Black holes and neutron stars merge unseen in dense star ... by ShinyRice on Tuesday May 19, 2020 @10:20AM (#23235133)

Seeing is not the same as detecting. Can you call radioastronomy "seeing" when you can't see radio waves at all? Gravitational waves are even more "unseeable" in this respect.

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