What does "kilonova" mean?

A type of supernova that is underluminous, caused by the merger of two neutron stars

Kilonova

Common synonyms include: hypernova, kn, macronova, macronova, stripped envelope supernova, supernova.

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
A type of supernova that is underluminous, caused by the merger of two neutron stars
2
A radiation pattern typical of a kilonova. informal
"Moreover, during merger neutron-rich matter can be ejected that can shine as a kilonova due to the decay of r-process elements [2–13]."

"Moreover, during merger neutron-rich matter can be ejected that can shine as a kilonova due to the decay of r-process elements [2–13]."

From kilo- + nova. From kilo- (“thousands”). From being much more luminous than a nova, but less so than a typical supernova.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.