They found the largest gold mine in the universe

In December 2021, an unusual bright explosion was detected in the universe by several telescopes. It was an unusual cosmic explosion that led to the formation of many heavy elements such as gold and platinum.

The gamma radiation from a cosmic explosion detected a year ago lasted about a minute, indicating that the explosion was caused by a massive star that died in a supernova. CNN.

They found a kilonova

However, the effects of gamma rays were weak and faded faster than those from supernovae, so the astronomers who analyzed the explosion also looked for the extra infrared light.

Wen Fei Fungassistant professor of physics and astronomy in Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, co-author of one of four studies published on the event published in Nature Astronomy Journal.

“We image a source in different filters to get the color information, which helps us identify the identity of the source. In this case, reds dominated and blues faded faster. This color evolution is a clear sign of the presence of kilonovae, and kilonovae can only come from mergers.” Neutron stars.

I wondered about gamma radiation

Kilonovas are rare, massive explosions caused by collisions between neutron stars, the extremely dense remnants of supernovae, or collisions between neutron stars and black holes.

When astronomers established that infrared light was caused by a kilonova, astronomers wondered more about the duration of gamma rays.

Changing understanding of astronomers

In the past, gamma-ray bursts observed from this rare type of explosion lasted less than two seconds, but this one lasted at least a minute.

“When we followed this long gamma-ray burst, we expected it to lead to evidence of a massive stellar collapse,” Wen Fei-fung told CNN.

“Instead, what we found was very different. When I entered the field 15 years ago, it was clear that long gamma rays come from massive star collapses. Not only does this unexpected discovery mark a major shift in our understanding, it also opens up an exciting new window of discovery.” “.

It can bring out a lot of details

Because neutron stars are compact cosmic objects, scientists did not expect that they would contain enough matter to create a gamma-ray burst that could last for a minute.

Because the explosion occurred relatively close to Earth, a billion light-years away, researchers were able to obtain unprecedented detail.

constituent heavy elements

And they found that the explosion created 1,000 times the mass of Earth from very heavy elements, which supports the theory that kilonovae are the most important gold factories in the universe, meaning Matt Nicol.

He is an associate professor at the University of Birmingham in the UK and a co-author of a Nature Astronomy study.

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