Kilonovae are cosmic optical flashes produced in the aftermath of the merger of two neutron stars. While the typical radiant flux of a kilonova can be as high as 1034\,W, they typically occur at cosmological distances, requiring meter-class or larger telescopes for their observation. Here we explore how a kilonova would look like from Earth if it occurred in the Solar System's backyard, 1000 light years from Earth. This is a small distance on cosmological scales, with only one neutron-star merger expected to occur this close every 100,000,000 years. While humans will likely only see kilonovae at much greater distances, showing how such a nearby event would look on camera can help visualize these events, and demonstrate their unique spectral evolution.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1905.01594,
title = {How would a nearby kilonova look on camera?},
author = {Nihar Gupte and Imre Bartos},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1905.01594},
year = {2020}
}