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Earth’s Gold Came From Colliding Stars [1]

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Universe Today, 7/18/13, Jason Major

Collisions of neutron stars produce powerful gamma-ray bursts – and heavy elements like gold (Credit: Dana Berry, SkyWorks Digital, Inc.)

Collisions of neutron stars produce powerful gamma-ray bursts – and heavy elements like gold (Image credit: Dana Berry, SkyWorks Digital, Inc.)

Recent research by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA [2]) in Cambridge, Massachusetts has revealed that considerable amounts of gold — along with other heavy elements — are produced during impacts between neutron stars, the super-dense remains of stars originally 1.4 to 9 times the mass of our Sun.

The team’s investigation of a short-duration gamma-ray outburst that occurred in June (GRB 130603B) showed a surprising residual near-infrared glow, possibly from a cloud of material created during the stellar merger. This cloud is thought to contain a considerable amount of freshly-minted heavy elements, including gold.


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[1] //soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/earth%E2%80%99s-gold-came-colliding-stars
[2] http://www.cfa.harvard.edu
[3] http://www.universetoday.com/103551/earths-gold-came-from-colliding-stars/
[4] //soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/tags/space
[5] //soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/tags/earth
[6] //soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/tags/gold
[7] //soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/type-post/earth-space-weather