The universe, earth and creation still remain mysterious despite human efforts to seek answers to them. This time two astrophysicists have claimed that almost 4.6-billion-years ago, two neutron stars collided near earth and as a result of that massive collision, some of the most coveted matter on earth was created.
As per both the researchers, Szabolcs Marka at Columbia University and Imre Bartos at the University of Florida, this comic event was responsible for 0.3 percent of the heaviest elements found on earth, including gold, platinum and uranium.
Bartos, who received his PhD at Columbia said, "Meteorites forged in the early solar system carry the traces of radioactive isotopes" which are particular chemical element versions that differ in neutron number. As these isotopes decay, they act as clocks that can be useful to reconstruct the time when they were created, he added.
Both astrophysicists compared the composition of meteorites to numerical simulations of the Milky Way. Their research showed that before the formation of earth, almost 100-million-years ago a collision of neutron-stars could have happened, almost 1000 light years from the gas cloud that have triggered the creation process of the solar system.
Since Milky Way galaxy itself is 100 times the distance of that cosmic event from the cradle of earth, Marka believes that if today, at a similar distance from the Solar System, such event happens "the ensuing radiation could outshine the entire night sky."
Bartos believes that this finding "will initiate a new type of quest within disciplines, such as chemistry, biology and geology, to solve the cosmic puzzle."
In addition, Marka stated that the study paper, published in the journal Nature, "addresses a fundamental quest of humanity: Where did we come from and where are we going?"
