The collision of two neutron stars following a decaying orbit is a rather rare event. In the entire Milky Way galaxy, among 100 billion stars, scientists identify only 10 double stars destined to collide.
In a publication in arXiv scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign set the task of answering the question of what danger such a collision could carry for life on Earth, if it does happen. According to the forecasts of specialists, the answer to this is very unambiguous – nothing good if the explosion occurs at a certain distance.
During their research, the researchers determined that the main danger comes from cosmic rays, if our planet is not on the path of the gamma-ray burst kilonova at a distance of 35 light years. If we are on this path, then according to scientists, the fatal proximity is 300 light years, but at the same time the planet must be in a certain location.
