Cosmic gold and platinumas well as Other elements likewise rare and heavythey come forged during the super-enhancements of a particular type of stars calls magnetarwrapped in magnetic fields thousands of billions of times more intense than those of the earth: a single shine can produce a mass equivalent at 27 moons. This place of birth of the precious metals which are also found inside our smartphones and our computers was so far unknown to the astronomers, and adds to the only one other, that is, the fusion of two neutron stars.
The discovery, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters by the group led by Aniudh Patel of American Columbia University, has also allowed to resolve the mystery twenty years that enveloped a strange light lightning identified In December 2004: The light came precisely from a magnetar that had triggered a gigantic shine. The explosion it had lasted only a few secondsbut had released more energy than the sun releases in 1 million years.
This was followed by a second signal, about 10 minutes laterremained so far without explanation: it was what demonstrated that the star I had Product heavy elements such as gold and platinumin that case in one equivalent quantity about the mass of Mars. “The event had been somehow forgotten over the years-says Brian Metzger of Columbia University and Flatronon Institute, co-author of the study-but we realized very quickly that our model was perfect to explain it. This is only the second time (after the merger of neutron stars observed in 2017) that we see directly the proof of the formation of these elements: It is a significant leap forward – adds Metzger – in our understanding of their production “.
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