Understanding the origin of heavy elements on the periodic table is one of the most challenging open problems in all of physics. In the search for conditions suitable for these elements via ...

A brilliant flash from deep space once baffled scientists. But now, that mystery has been solved—and it reshapes what we know about the universe’s heaviest elements. Back in December 2004, a massive ...

All around us are elements forged in stars, from the nickel and copper in coins to the gold and silver in jewelry. Scientists have a good understanding of how these elements form: In many cases, a ...

For years, astronomers puzzled over the mystery of where the heaviest elements in the universe—like gold, uranium, and platinum—come from. Scientists understood that these elements had to form under ...

In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal, scientists have proposed the features of rapid neutron capture process (r-process) nucleosynthesis in a novel scenario, common envelope jet ...

In an ejection that would have caused its rotation to slow, a magnetar is depicted losing material into space in this artist’s concept. The magnetar’s strong, twisted magnetic field lines (shown in ...

As massive stars collapse into black holes, powerful jets tearing out from their hearts may "dissolve" the stars' outer layers, providing the ingredients to make heavy elements. This is the conclusion ...

An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a star, HE1327-2326, which sets a new record for being the most heavy element-deficient star ever found. Its chemical composition, as ...

Galaxies “waste” large amounts of heavy elements generated by star formation by ejecting them up to a million light years away into their surrounding halos and deep space, according to a new study led ...