Astronomers Just Found The Ancient Cosmic Event That Gave Earth Gold And Platinum

[Judi Lynn]

(NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab)
SPACE
MICHELLE STARR 8 MAY 2019

A violent collision between two neutron stars 4.6 billion years ago showered the as-yet-unformed Solar System with heavy elements, new research has found.

As much as 0.3 percent of Earth's gold, platinum and uranium (along with other heavy elements) could have been forged in the fire of a merger 1,000 light-years away, when the Solar System was little more than a cloud of gas and dust.

"This means that in each of us we would find an eyelash worth of these elements," said astrophysicist Imre Bartos of the University of Florida, "mostly in the form of iodine, which is essential to life."

The famous neutron star collision detected in 2017 taught us many things - not least of which is that such collisions produce heavy elements. In the electromagnetic data produced by GW 170817, scientists detected, for the first time, the production of heavy elements including gold, platinum and uranium.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-star-smash-up-billions-of-years-ago-rained-gold-and-platinum-on-the-solar-system

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

1. Unless I missed something, the title doesn't match up

"As much as 0.3 percent of Earth's gold, platinum and uranium"??????

[defacto7]

2. Change "the" to "an" in the title and it would be a true statement

as far as this info is presented.