![]() ![]() The universe needed another kind of explosion called a kilonova, which shines 1,000 times brighter than a typical supernova. But computer simulations showed these explosions weren’t powerful enough to forge some of the elements that are heavier than iron, like the precious metals. Some even heavier elements erupted from supernovae. Heavier elements, like carbon and oxygen, came later, fused in the hearts of stars. The lightest of the elements, like hydrogen, helium, and lithium, came from the Big Bang. Astronomers have suspected for decades that neutron-star mergers were responsible for the production of most of the heavy elements found in the universe. The discovery confirms a long-standing astronomical theory. The baby elements go on to become part of other objects of the universe, like stars and planets, including our own. ![]() Heated to extreme temperatures, the neutrons bombard surrounding atoms, and form heavy elements. When neutron stars merge, they release a fire hose of neutrons. “We are seeing the heavy elements like gold and platinum being made in real time.” A teaspoon of its contents would weigh about 10 million tons. They are the densest known objects in the universe one neutron star measures about the size of a bustling city, but has about the same mass as our sun. Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of dead stars, the sole survivors of supernovae. Scientists estimate the amount of cosmic bling totals about 10,000 Earth-masses of heavy elements. Using infrared telescopes, astronomers studied the spectra-the chemical composition of cosmic objects-of the collision and found that the plume ejected by the merger contained a host of newly formed heavy chemical elements, including gold, silver, platinum, and others. Unlike with black-hole collisions, they had visible proof, and it looked like a bright jewel in the night sky.īut the merger of two neutron stars is more than fireworks. For the first time, they could see the source of universe-warping forces Albert Einstein predicted a century ago. The afterglow hung for several days, shifting from bright blue to dull red as the ejected material cooled in the emptiness of space.Īstronomers detected the aftermath of the merger on Earth on August 17. There was a brief flash of light a million trillion times as bright as the sun, and then a hot cloud of radioactive debris. The violent collision produced gravitational waves, cosmic ripples powerful enough to stretch and squeeze the fabric of the universe. Some 130 million years ago, in another galaxy, two neutron stars spiraled closer and closer together until they smashed into each other in spectacular fashion. ![]()
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