“X-ray flash from distant galaxy may be collision of two dead stars forging gold” — what this page in the network covers. A strange, brief blast of X-rays spotted in a galaxy far away could be the signature of two neutron stars smashing together, according to astronomers investigating the event. The flash, which lasted about 10 minutes, was detected in the outskirts of a galaxy roughly 1 billion light-years from Earth. Neutron stars are the dense remnants of dead massive stars, and their collisions are thought to be cosmic forges for heavy elements like gold, silver, and platinum.
Scientists have long studied such mergers through gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts, but this X-ray-only signal offers a new way to find them. The discovery could help explain how the universe’s heaviest elements are created and distributed. Researchers are now searching for similar X-ray flashes to confirm the theory and uncover more of these elusive cosmic crashes. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.