A flash of high-energy radiation that rippled through space in December 2004 may have quietly rewritten part of the story for how the universe forges its heaviest elements — including gold, platinum ...

Scientists may have finally worked out where gold came from in the early universe. In a new study, researchers revealed that powerful flares originating from neutron stars with a strong magnetic field ...

A brilliant flash from deep space once baffled scientists. But now, that mystery has been solved—and it reshapes what we know about the universe’s heaviest elements. Back in December 2004, a massive ...

What can magnetized stars, commonly called magnetars, teach astronomers about the distribution of heavy elements throughout the universe? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star, shown here in an artist’s rendering, ...

For years, astronomers puzzled over the mystery of where the heaviest elements in the universe—like gold, uranium, and platinum—come from. Scientists understood that these elements had to form under ...

The origins of heavy elements such as gold have been one of the biggest mysteries of astrophysics. A study has now provided a clue about the precious metal’s cosmic origins. Scientists have found that ...

The researchers believe that magnetar giant flares could be responsible for up to 10% of elements heavier than iron in the Milky Way galaxy, but a future mission could provide a more precise estimate, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Magnetar flares, colossal cosmic explosions, may be directly responsible for the creation and distribution of heavy elements across the universe, suggests a new study. For decades, ...

(CNN) — Astronomers have been trying to determine the cosmic origins of the heaviest elements, like gold, for decades. Now, new research based on a signal uncovered in archival space mission data may ...