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 $10^{34}$\,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.

中文翻译：

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附近的千新星在相机上会是什么样子？

Kilonovae 是两颗中子星合并后产生的宇宙光学闪光。虽然千新星的典型辐射通量可高达 $10^{34}$\,W，但它们通常发生在宇宙距离内，需要米级或更大的望远镜进行观测。在这里，我们探讨了如果千新星发生在距离地球 1000 光年的太阳系后院，从地球上看它会是什么样子。在宇宙学尺度上，这是一个很小的距离，预计每 1 亿年只有一次中子星合并会发生在如此接近的位置。虽然人类可能只会在更远的距离看到千新星，但展示这种附近事件在相机上的样子可以帮助可视化这些事件，并展示它们独特的光谱演化。