Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the components of matter ejected from neutron-star mergers. The characteristic luminosity of the kilonova is approximately equal to the radioactive heating rate at ...

Up to a certain point, the elements of the periodic table are largely formed in the hearts of stars. But for elements that are heavy enough (heavier than zinc typically), fusing two lighter nuclei ...

For the first time, astronomers have definitively ID’d a specific heavy element forged by a neutron star merger. Theories of physics have long predicted that about half of the universe’s heavy ...

Using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and elsewhere have discovered a new extremely r-process-enhanced star in the Milky Way's thin disk. The ...