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Conference Paper

The electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational wave source GW170817

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Chen,  T.-W.
High Energy Astrophysics, MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Chen, T.-W. (2019). The electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational wave source GW170817. In E. R. Griffin (Ed.), Southern Horizons in Time-Domain Astronomy (pp. 56-60). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0004-F836-8
Abstract
On 17th August 2017 a strong source of gravitational waves was detected by the
LIGO-Virgo collaboration. The signal lasted for 60 seconds, and the event was followed just 2
seconds later by a short burst of gamma-rays that was detected by Fermi and INTEGRAL. The
gravitational-wave and gamma-ray source had consistent sky positions to within about 30 square
degrees. Within 10 hours of the gravitational-wave source event, a fast fading optical and nearinfrared
counterpart was discovered, which was subsequently followed-up and studied intensively
for several weeks and months by numerous facilities. This talk presented the results from our
optical and near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic follow-up campaign of this unprecedented
discovery, which was the first electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational-wave source, the
first identification of a neutron star–neutron star merger, and the first direct evidence of the
source of r-process elements. It focussed on the results of the GROND and ePESSTO teams,
showing that this remarkable transient truly opened up the era of multi-messenger astronomy.