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The synthesis of the first elements-hydrogen, helium and lithium-occurred roughly three minutes after the birth of the universe. The quest to understand heavy-element formation is part of a larger scientific effort to answer a fundamental question: Where did everything come from? The cosmic history of the elements of the periodic table extends from a few minutes after the big bang to the present. Our newfound ability to detect gravitational waves, as well as light from the same cosmic source, promises to help us understand astrophysical explosions and the synthesis of elements in a way that was previously impossible. The discovery has answered several long-standing questions in astrophysics while also raising entirely new questions. And I’m thrilled that we finally get to see it happening. Humanity had just witnessed heavy-element production.Īs an expert in cosmic cataclysms, I’m enthralled by both the science and the romance of this story-the creation of something new and enduring, even precious, from an ancient remnant of a once luminous star. Astrophysicists recognized a distinctive glow that showed the presence of new elements. Eventually the gravitational waves (traveling at light speed) and the light from the merger reached Earth together. New species evolved and went extinct, civilizations rose and fell, and curious humans began looking up at the sky, developing instruments that could do incredible things such as measure minute distortions in spacetime. The ripples in spacetime, called gravitational waves, began making their way across the cosmos, and in the time it took them to cover the vast distance to Earth, life on the planet changed beyond recognition. At last the stars merged, sending ripples through spacetime and setting off cosmic fireworks across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.Īt the time of the crash, our own pale blue planet, in a quiet part of the Milky Way about 130 million light-years away, was home to the dinosaurs. As they drew closer together, tidal forces began to rip them apart, flinging neutron-rich matter into space at velocities approaching one-third the speed of light. In a dance that went on for millennia, the stars spiraled in, slowly at first and then rapidly. But most massive stars live in binary systems with a twin, and the same fate that befell our first star eventually came for its partner, leaving two neutron stars circling each other. The neutron star might have cooled forever in the depths of space, and that would have been the end of its story. This newborn star was a remnant of the stellar core compressed to extreme densities where matter can take forms we do not understand. The process, the evidence suggests, went something like this.Įons ago a star more than 10 times as massive as our sun died in a spectacular explosion, giving birth to one of the strangest objects in the universe: a neutron star. That changed recently when astronomers observed, for the first time, heavy-element synthesis in action. Scientists have long had a basic idea of how these elements come to be, but for many years the details were hazy and fiercely debated. And the mirrors of the JWST are gilded with gold, an element useful for its unreactive nature and ability to reflect infrared light (not to mention its popularity in jewelry). Gallium is critical for the chips in our smartphones and our laptop screens. Ocean microplankton called Acantharea use the element strontium to create intricate mineral skeletons. Iodine, for instance, is a component of hormones we need to control our brain development and regulate our metabolism.

After 3.7 billion years of evolution on our planet, humans and many other species have come to rely on them in our bodies and our lives. As the universe churns and new stars and planets form out of old gas and dust, these elements eventually make their way to Earth and other worlds. About half of the abundance of elements heavier than iron originates in some of the most violent explosions in the cosmos. Bits of the stars are all around us, and in us, too.