- 4089 - NEUTRON
STARS - new Webb discoveries? The James Webb telescope traced an
incredibly bright gamma-ray burst to a kilonova, a dramatic event believed to
forge heavy elements like gold. This
incredibly bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) was traced back to its source, a
violent collision between two neutron stars.
-
--------------------- 4089 - NEUTRON STARS - new Webb discoveries?
- The gold ring on
your finger likely contains atoms forged in neutron star collisions like this,
also known as "kilonovas." That's because, as well as blasting out
long-duration GRBs, kilonovas are believed to be the sites at which the
universe's heaviest elements, which cannot be synthesized in the nuclear furnaces
at the heart of stars, are forged.
-
- These elements are
theorized to be created by a mechanism called "neutron capture" or
the “r-process”, which allows atomic nuclei to capture neutrons, creating new
and heavier elements, including gold, platinum and uranium. The r-process can
only proceed in extreme and violent conditions, such as those found around
colliding neutron stars.
-
- The team saw
evidence of the heavy element tellurium and the creation of lanthanides, a
group of 15 metals heavier than lead. These observations demonstrate that
nucleosynthesis in GRBs can create r-process elements across a broad atomic
mass range and play a central role in heavy element nucleosynthesis across the
universe.
-
- The GRB followed to
its kilonova source designated “GRB 230307A”,
was initially detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on
March 7, 2023, and is the second-brightest GRB ever seen.
-
- It lasted around 34
seconds and was spotted by multiple other telescopes, which is what allowed it
to be triangulated back to its source by astronomers. JWST observed the kilonova twice, first at 29
days after the GRB and then again at 61 days after the blast of radiation, with
the rapid fade in brightness and the transition from blue to red between these
observations.
-
- Several bright
galaxies in the vicinity of the kilonova may be the home of this neutron star
collision and the source of GRB 230307A. The brightest of these galaxies, is
8.3 million light-years away from Earth and is offset from the GRB source by
130,000 light-years.
-
- The kilonova could
also have been spotted in another type of emission other than light. The
collision of neutron stars causes the very fabric of space-time to
"ring" in the form of gravitational waves. These ripples can be
detected here on Earth by detectors like the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory.
-
- But, LIGO wasn't
active when GRB 230307A lit up. The facility was in the midst of a three-year
shutdown at that time, receiving upgrades to make it more sensitive, only
coming back online in May, 2023.
-
-
July 12, 2023 NEUTRON STARS
- new Webb discoveries? 4089
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023 ---------------------------------
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