In 2017, neutron-star collisions migrated from theoretical plaything to observational fact when scientists detected the gravitational waves such collisions generate (which followed on the heels of the very first gravitational waves detected, which were produced by the collision of two black holes). A flurry of analyses have determined that neutron-star collisions produce heavier elements more efficiently and abundantly than supernova explosions, and so it may be that the majority of the universe’s heavy elements were produced through these astrophysical smashups. Fused in stars and ejected in
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