Gwyneth Perseveranda

Stars are celestial bodies that have guided generations to navigate through both time and space. Their presence in the night sky has inspired myths and legends, becoming a source of wonder and scientific quests.


In a University of Copenhagen-led study published on October 30, researchers from Niels Bohr Institute observed that after the neutron stars collided, it created the smallest black hole yet observed.

Apart from the black hole, the collision also resulted in a ball of explosion which shined brightly, reaching a temperature higher than the sun.

This luminous object, known as a kilonova, shines brightly due to the large amounts of radiation emitted from the decay of radioactive and heavy elements created during the explosion.

At these temperatures, the electrons are not attached to the atoms but move freely in a state called ionized plasma. 

This phenomenon is a state of matter where the electrons are not bound to the atoms, creating a mixture of charged particles and occurs at extremely high temperatures.

This free-floating movement exhibited by the electrons is described as their “dance.”

Through the combination of kilonova light measurements obtained from telescopes around the world, researchers, led by the Cosmic DAWN Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, have answered a long-standing question in astrophysics about the origin of heavy elements.

This process was also observed in the star matter from the explosion, where the electrons attached to the atomic nuclei.

When they bind, these stars create heavier elements including strontium and yttrium.
There were also other heavy elements of unknown origin produced in the explosion.

“We can now see the moment where atomic nuclei and electrons are uniting in the afterglow,” Rasmus Damgaard, doctorate student at Cosmic DAWN Center and co-author of the study, said.

“For the first time, we see the creation of atoms; we can measure the temperature of the matter and see the microphysics in this remote explosion,” Damgaard said.

Kasper Heintz, co-author and assistant professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, explained, "The matter expands so fast and gains in size so rapidly, to the extent where it takes hours for the light to travel across the explosion.”

“This is why, just by observing the remote end of the fireball, we can see further back in the history of the explosion,” Heintz said.

Heintz also said that “Closer to us, the electrons have hooked on to atomic nuclei, but on the other side, on the far side of the newborn black hole, the 'present' is still just the future."