- María José López Pourailly
Chronicle of a global collaboration: the fusion of two neutron stars, a hug of 130 million years
August 17, 2017: Scientists from all over the world who study the Universe witness and analyze online and live a historical event that will mark a before and after in the way we understand the study and the development of Astronomy. The news is spread all over the globe on October 17. In our homes and offices, going on the public transport or walking around, we watch on TV, mobile devices and computers the re-creation of a two neutron stars fusion that occurred 130 million years ago in NGC4993, the largest galaxy in the constellation of Hydra. The event was categorized as 'cataclysmic'. The reason for the media and scientific revolution caused by the phenomenon lies in the fact that it was the first of its kind in history to be recorded, seen and listened simultaneously, thanks to telescopes, radio telescopes, gravitational wave detectors and advanced Internet networks - such as RedCLARA and GÉANT, at regional level - that allowed the collaborative work of almost a hundred researchers from all over the world who contributed to the study.
Borned in Venezuela, graduated in Physics from the University of Los Andes and PhD in Astrophysics from Yale University, Kathy Vivas works as a support astronomer at the Cerro Tololo Inter American Observatory, in La Serena, Chile. And it was from there that Vivas, along with a large team of scientists scattered around the world, participated in the project that resulted in the earliest observations of a ‘kilonova’: the fusion of two neutron stars 130 million years ago in the galaxy NGC4993, constellation of Hydra. We talked with her about the importance of this collaboration and how the work was carried out.
En 2017, de las 64 instituciones afiliadas a RENATA, 24 utilizan el VC Espresso, la solución de conferencia en línea para seminarios, reuniones y educación virtual provista por RENATA y RedCLARA que permite la realización de sesiones de trabajo colaborativo entre usuarios localizados en diferentes puntos geográficos.
(Author: Galia Rivas Toral, Red 
(By: Carolina Muñoz, 