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Kilonova Fade-out

These two images taken on May 26 and July 16, 2020, show the fading light of a kilonova located in a distant galaxy. The kilonova appears as a spot to the upper left of the host galaxy. The glow is prominent in the May 26 image but fades in the July 16 image. The kilonova's peak brightness reaches up to 10,000 times that of a classical nova. A merger of two neutron stars—the source of the kilonova—is believed to have produced a magnetar, which has an extremely powerful magnetic field. The energy from that magnetar brightened the material ejected from the explosion, causing it to become unusually bright at infrared wavelengths of light.
  • Release Date
    November 12, 2020
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Sees Unexplained Brightness from Colossal Explosion
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, W. Fong (Northwestern University), T. Laskar (University of Bath, UK) and A. Pagan (STScI)

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Last Updated
Aug 17, 2025
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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