Stars That Make Gold and Colliding Black Holes
Sometimes when our team hears about an astronomical breakthrough, it can sound like science fiction.
For example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that researchers in Italy had discovered stars that produce gold when colliding in space.
So, the gold that makes up your ring, necklace, or face mask (yes, we did a gold face mask a time or two at a team-building retreat) might have come from colliding stars billions of years ago.
What are gravitational waves?
Image of LIGO and VIRGO Via Amaldi
56021 Santo Stefano a Macerata – Cascina (Pisa), Italy.
Scattered worldwide are very sensitive instruments that can detect the slightest shifts in space. One of them is an enormous tool called the LIGO and VIRGO collaboration (located in Italy) and is used to find the exact coordinates of gravitational waves.
A gravitational wave is a disturbance in the fabric of spacetime (gravity). The instrument is so sensitive it can detect a wave disturbance the width of a human hair billions of light-years away.
Credit VIRGO
Credit VIRGO
What causes these waves are massive events—sometimes bigger than supernovas (a dying star)—and could be two black holes colliding.
A black hole is a massive bend in gravity that can trap light and is formed when a massive supernova collapses in on itself.
Colliding black holes are like two pieces of jello being lobed at each other at high speeds—they'd jiggle and send out waves after the crash. So, scientists and everyone else wanted to know what would happen when two very dense stars collided—i.e., two neutron stars (it’s a supermassive dead star that has lost all its energy).
They had no idea that the aftermath would be riches.
Credit VIRGO
The collision happened 130 million light-years away from Earth and was picked up by LIGO and VIRGO. The video shows a quiet “chirp,” and a spectacular light show.
After the collision, the researchers documented heavier elements like platinum, gold, and uranium raining down on the neighboring galaxies (including us).
What does this mean for us?
Discoveries like these are shedding new light on how the universe was formed.
For example, we might find life's origin if new elements are created during interstellar collisions (like gold and platinum). And understand alchemy on a new level.
So, next time someone comments on something gold you're wearing, point to the stars and say thanks.