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Rare cosmic collision acted like one of the ‘factories of gold’ in the universe

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"An unusual bright blast of light detected by multiple telescopes in December 2021 was the result of a rare cosmic explosion that created a wealth of heavy elements such as gold and platinum. The gamma-ray burst, called GRB 211211A, lasted about a minute. Gamma-ray bursts are considered among the strongest and brightest explosions in the universe, and they can range from a few milliseconds to several hours in length. The duration of the burst hinted it was caused by the explosion of a massive star as it died in a supernova. But the aftermath of the gamma-ray burst was faint and faded more quickly than those created by supernovas, and astronomers analyzing the event also spied an excess of infrared light. We image a source in different filters to obtain color information, which helps us determine the source’s identity. In this case, red color prevailed, and bluer colors faded more quickly. This color evolution is a telltale signature of a kilonova, and kilonovae can only come from neutron star mergers “We found that this one event produced about 1,000 times the mass of the Earth in very heavy elements. This supports the idea that these kilonovae are the main factories of gold in the Universe,” said Dr. Matt Nicholl, an associate professor at the University of Birmingham in the UK and coauthor of one of the Nature Astronomy studies, in a statement." 12/11/22 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/08/world/kilonova-gamma-rays-gold-scn/index.html

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cnn

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explosion

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