Astronomers find rare star system that will lead to gold-producing explosion
Astronomers at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab announced the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova explosion.
Astronomers at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova, an ultra-powerful and gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars.
The arrangement, known as CPD-29 2176, is so astonishingly rare that only about 10 such systems are believed to exist in the Milky Way galaxy.
CPD-29 2176, is located about 11,400 light-years from Earth and was first identified by NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
