These mysterious flashes of radio energy that disappear in the blink of an eye originate from young, massive galaxies
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Fong (Northwestern University), and T. Laskar (University of Bath, UK) The glow from a kilonova caused by the merger of two neutron stars.
Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Paterson & W. Fong (Northwestern University). The afterglow of SGRB181123B, captured by the Gemini North telescope. The afterglow is marked with a circle.
Following the October 16, 2017 announcement of the first-ever observation of a binary neutron star inspiral and merger, Northwestern’s astronomy research center, CIERA, held a discussion with the Northwestern scientists behind the discovery. Professors Vicky Kalogera, Shane Larson, Raffaella Margutti and Wen-fai Fong describe their roles and experiences in the making of this ground-breaking discovery. Event moderated by President & CEO of Adler Planetarium, Michelle Larson. November 28, 2017
All of the gold on Earth might have come from cosmic crashes between super-dense dead stars, new research suggests. July 18, 2013
Image Credit: NASA The Crab Nebula, the result of a star that exploded in 1054 AD, has a neutron start rotating at 30 times a second in its center. The collision of exceedingly rare neutron stars is now thought to be the source of the universe’s gold.
Scientists from Harvard University have for the first time found concrete evidence that gold is produced in the collision of two extremely rare stars. July 17, 2013
Image Credit: Dana Berry, SkyWorks Digital, Inc. The collision of two neutron stars can create rare elements like gold. Image released on July 17, 2013.