--- title: "James Webb Spots Cosmic Foundry Generating Pure Gold" description: "Collision Course When two dead star carcasses collide, they produce gold...stop me if you've heard this one before. As Space.com reports, the uber-powerful James Webb Space Telescope and its predecessor, the Hubble, have observed a super-long gamma-ray burst (GRB) that occurred when two dense neutron stars collided millions of years ago — and the result, as […]" date: "2024-02-24" modified: "2024-02-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jwst-neutron-stars-gold" categories: - "James Webb Space Telescope" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "gold" - "james webb space telescope" - "neutron stars" - "the digest" --- # James Webb Spots Cosmic Foundry Generating Pure Gold ![Two neutron stars collided millions of years ago and the resulting explosion created a bright flash and, as scientists have found, pure gold.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Gold Standard As [*Space.com* reports](), the uber-powerful James Webb Space Telescope and its predecessor, the Hubble, have observed a super-long gamma-ray burst (GRB) that occurred when two dense neutron stars collided millions of years ago — and the result, as the telescopes' instruments detected, was quite literally pure gold. Neutron stars are the rare result of supernovas, or the explosions associated with dying stars, that don't turn into black holes. Earlier this week, in fact, the [JWST was used]() to detect the neutron star at the heart of a well-known supernova that scientists believed existed but couldn't see until now. Because these bodies are, essentially, small and dense balls of mass, it's not surprising that something huge happens when they collide. With the power of these two magnificent telescopes, scientists from the University of Rome were able to spot the bright shine, known as a kilonova, of the heavy elements like silver and gold created in the dead stars' turbulent merger. "It was thrilling to study a kilonova as we had never seen before using the powerful eyes of Hubble and JWST," Eleonora Troja, a University of Rome astrophysicist who helped with the discovery, told *Space.com*. "This is the first time we've been able to verify that metals heavier than iron and silver were freshly made in front of us." https://twitter.com/FarLife1/status/1744885575746826574 ## Flash-Bang Fusion As the report explains, lengthier GRBs are generally associated with the death of a single star rather than the merger of two — but in the case of GRB 230307A, which was [discovered by Italy's Fermi mission]() in 2023 and is at 200 seconds the second-longest such energy bursts ever detected, this convention is being challenged. The new research, published this week in the [journal *Nature*](), shows that when neutron stars exist in binary pairs, as did the two that merged in the case of this GRB and its associated kilonova, known as AT2017gfo, their collision appears to contribute not just iron and silver to the elemental building blocks of the universe, but also gold. "Neutron star mergers could give rise to an ideal environment to extensively synthesize heavy elements, which is currently beyond artificial creation," Yu-Han Yang, the University of Rome research team lead said. "Studying neutron star mergers helps us rewrite the obscure chapters of nucleosynthesis," the [scientific term]() for the formation of new atomic nuclei as it occurred in the first seconds after the Big Bang. Like a cosmic magician's trick, this flash-bang resulted in gold — and it may help scientists better understand how the Universe was formed, too. **More on neutron stars:** [*James Webb Spots Something Lurking in Wreckage of Supernova*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()