Here’s How Huge Explosions In Space Create Gold – SlashGear

The power of a kilonova explosion creates heavy elements due to a process called rapid neutron capture, a type of nuclear reaction in which a nucleus sucks up nearby neutrons and then gives off gamma rays. This requires extreme conditions, like those found in a kilonova, which forms the heavy elements and then explodes them outwards. This sends the elements speeding off into space, where they can be incorporated along with clouds of dust and gas to form the building blocks of new planets.

In 2019, researchers identified the specific event which they believe seeded heavy elements like gold, platinum, and uranium on Earth. Two neutron stars collided 4.6 billion years ago in a part of the Milky Way close to where our solar system would form, at around 1,000 light-years of distance. The Earth itself formed around 100 million years later, incorporating the heavy elements that were sent shooting out into space by this collision.

These elements continue to exist on Earth today, making up around 0.3% of the heaviest elements found on the planet.

“This means that in each of us we would find an eyelash worth of these elements, mostly in the form of iodine, which is essential to life,” said lead author of the research, Imre Bartos of Columbia University, in a research letter published in Nature.

Some researchers even believe that all of the gold and platinum found on Earth was created by kilonovae, though this is harder to prove.