Can the electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational be seen by 'small' telescopes? As follow-up question for my previous question I'm thinking about the search for the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart of a gravitational wave (GW). Is it possible to search for those events with 'normal' telescope, the ones (professional) amateur astronomers have? What I mean with a (professional) amateur astronomer is: a telescope with an aperture of 10&quot; or more (remote) and the ability to do long exposures.
Is that equipment capable of detecting the EM counterpart of a gravitational wave (in theory)? Thanks in advance!
EDIT: I'm not sure if there is an EM counterpart in the visible light at all. Is this the case? Can such an event, that triggers a detectable GW, been seen in the visible light (by extension: with 'amateur' telescopes as stated above)?
Unlikely.
The Neutron star merger GW170817 had an optical counterpart (SSS 17a) The optical magnitude peaked at about +18, this is beyond the abilities of most amateur set ups.
Black hole mergers may be intrinsically more energetic, but less bright in the electromagnetic spectrum, as the black holes don't have a surface to interact electromagnetically.
However each gravitational wave detection is examined to see if there is a corresponding gamma ray burst, or optical transient.  Combining results of gravitational, neutrino and optical observations has been called &quot;multi messenger astronomy&quot;.