Where does all the gold come from? Scientists discover the real source

First Post

05-05-2025

For centuries, gold's celestial origins remained one of astronomy's greatest mysteries. Now, a ground-breaking study has pinpointed the violent cosmic events responsible for forging nearly all the gold in our universe—collisions between neutron stars. read more
For years, scientists believed that gold and other heavy elements were forged solely in the violent collisions of neutron stars. But a ground-breaking new study suggests there's another, unexpected cosmic player in this alchemy: magnetars.
Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the research identifies magnetar giant flares, brief but immensely powerful explosions from highly magnetised neutron stars as a newly confirmed source of gold production in the universe.
Using data from a 2004 gamma-ray burst known as GRB 041219A, researchers discovered telltale signs of a heavy element-forming process known as rapid neutron capture or the r-process within the burst's ejecta.
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'What we're seeing is essentially a cosmic gold factory in action,' said lead researcher Dr. Matt Nicholl of the University of Birmingham. 'The JWST's infrared eyes detected clear signatures of tellurium—a heavy element produced through the same process that creates gold—proving these collisions are the universe's primary source of precious metals.'
The discovery overturns long-held assumptions that supernovae were the main producers of gold. While dying stars do create lighter elements like carbon and oxygen, neutron star mergers generate staggering amounts of heavier elements through rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis. A single collision can produce gold weighing more than 100 times the mass of Earth's oceans.
'This explains why gold is so rare,' noted co-author Dr. Eleonora Troja of the University of Rome. 'Neutron star mergers are incredibly violent but infrequent events—our galaxy might only see one every 100,000 years.'
The team estimates that magnetar flares may account for up to 10% of all the heavy elements like gold, platinum, and uranium in the universe. Unlike neutron star collisions, which are rare and difficult to detect, magnetar flares are more frequent and easier to observe, offering scientists a new window into cosmic element formation.
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Magnetars are a rare type of neutron star, the ultra-dense remnants of supernova explosions. What sets them apart is their extreme magnetic fields—trillions of times stronger than Earth's—which can twist and snap in violent flares that release more energy in a single second than our sun emits in 100,000 years.
The research team traced how these celestial alchemists distribute their precious products across the cosmos. Following a merger, ejected material laced with gold and other heavy elements gets swept up in cosmic winds, eventually becoming incorporated into interstellar gas clouds. Over billions of years, these enriched clouds form new stars and planets, including our solar system.
Most of Earth's gold likely arrived during the Late Heavy Bombardment period about 4 billion years ago, when asteroids pummelled our young planet. This extra-terrestrial delivery means the gold in your jewellery was probably forged in a cataclysmic neutron star collision that occurred long before our solar system existed.
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The study also resolves a longstanding astronomical puzzle. While scientists had theorised about neutron star mergers creating heavy elements since the 1970s, concrete evidence remained elusive until JWST's advanced instruments could analyse the chemical fingerprints of these distant explosions.
As astrophysicists continue studying GRB 230307A's afterglow, they expect to find signatures of other precious metals like platinum and uranium. The findings not only rewrite our understanding of cosmic chemistry but also highlight how the most violent events in the universe create the building blocks of planets and the precious metals humans have prized since antiquity.
For gold's origin story, it turns out the truth is even more extraordinary than alchemists imagined: all that glitters was literally forged in the heart of colliding stars.