Animation Worth a Thousand Words (Score 1)

The Chandra X-ray Observatory http://chandra.harvard.edu/ priovides a wealth of information and help visualizing these phenomena. While the following link depicts orbiting white dwarfs (not as massive as neutron stars) swirling closer together, traveling in excess of a million miles per hour producing gravity waves...
Animation of White Dwarf Gravitational Wave Merger
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/j0806/animat ions.html