We Are Made Of Stars But Now There Is Proof Our Jewellery Is Too
We are made of stars. But now it seems there’s definitive proof that our jewellery is too. Ever looked at a luscious, shining gold or platinum ring and thought it looked simply heavenly? There’s a reason, and it’s as old as time.
Scientists have long suspected that heavy metals of high density and atomic weight such as gold and platinum originated in space, in a collision between stars resulting in a massive explosion. But this has only been conjecture, until now.
This week astronomers witnessed the collision of two neutron stars (a neutron star is the already collapsed core of a large star resulting from the supernova explosion of a massive star. So that’s big. Really really really big), with a flash brighter than a billion suns. This explosion of epic proportions most likely then formed a black hole but before that happened the explosion emitted a dense beam of gamma rays, showering the sky with heavy elements.
The two stars, each heavier than our sun, circled each other, getting closer and closer together before colliding. The sheer force of this collision forged the new heavy elements of gold and platinum as extra neutrons were pushed into the nuclei of atoms.
The echoes of this unstoppable, forceful attraction, millions of light years away, millions of years ago, produced the precious metal that you can now place on the finger of your own unstoppable attraction. A gift from the stars.
How precious! Our Liquid Slim in 14 carat yellow gold. Now you know how special this is.
