How do you pinpoint titanic collisions that occur millions or billions of light-years away? First, by surveying large areas of the sky. Second, by teaming up with observatories around the world! Scientists have been searching for kilonovae, when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide and set off brief, but fantastic light shows as they merge. Such a collision can cause an enormous eruption that sends out bright cascades of light and ripples in space-time.

How many brilliant eruptions like this occur across the universe? We don’t yet know. Only a handful of kilonovae candidates have been detected to date. NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to survey the same areas of the sky every few days, which will help researchers follow up on – or even pinpoint – kilonova detections and ideally set off a “gold rush” of new information.