First heavy element identified from a neutron-star collision

Seeing this strontium supports the idea that these smashups create many elements heavier than iron

Astronomers have for the first time definitively ID’d the birth of a specific heavy element during a neutron-star smashup. They found strontium. And it showed up in the wavelengths of light — or spectra — making up this collision’s afterglow. Read more.

Tags: Astronomy