Stars collide
Recent astronomical discoveries has finally provided the answer to the long quest of how gold and platinum is created and can be found deep in the earth. An answer that gives gold a whole new meaning.
Scientists have finally witnessed the collision of a pair of neutron stars. The smallest, densest stars known to exist--neutron stars are about 12 miles wide, with a mass about half a million times that of the Earth!
The collision of two of these stars saw them circling each other 30 times a second, rising to 2,000 times as they inched closer together.
When they finally smashed together, there was a nanosecond of silence, the collision, followed by an epic explosion called a kilonova. This explosion was so big that it created ripples in space-time, known as gravitational waves, as well as a two-second gamma ray burst. And here's the part we found especially interesting--the kilonova was so powerful, that it literally blasted heavy elements into existence, scattering gold, platinum, and uranium into the universe.
These elements eventually condense to form stars and discs around stars. From that, planets are born. That's how Earth was created. So, the gold you wear on your finger or around your neck was, and still is, star dust. Not only has it had a life of billion of years hidden deep in the planet before being mined, it has also existed out in the universe, light years away and since the dawn of time.
Pretty cool, huh?