  The direction of the axis of the orbital motion of the merging binary neutron
stars in the GW170817 event coincided with that of the apparent superluminal
jet, which produced the short hard gamma ray burst (SHB) 170817A, if the local
value of the Hubble constant is that provided by standard candle Type Ia
supernovae, H_0=73.24 +/- 1.74 km/s Mpc. This value differs by 3 sigma from the
cosmic value H_0=67.74 +/- 0.46 km/s Mpc obtained from the cosmic microwave
background radiation by Planck assuming the standard Lambda-CDM cosmology. The
measured superluminal motion of the jet also allows critical tests of the
assumed production mechanism of SHBs in general and of SHB170817A in
particular.
