Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have traced an incredibly bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) back to its source, a violent collision between two neutron stars.
The ring on your finger likely contains atoms forged in neutron star collisions like this, also known as "kilonovas." That's because, as well as blasting out long-duration GRBs, kilonovas are believed to be the sites at which the universe's heaviest elements, which cannot be synthesized in the nuclear furnaces at the heart of stars, are forged.
These elements are theorized to be created by a mechanism called "neutron capture" or the r-process, which allows atomic nuclei to capture neutrons, creating new and heavier elements, including gold, platinum and uranium. The r-process can only proceed in extreme and violent conditions, such as those found around colliding neutron stars.
Source: www.space.com
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