The James Webb Space Telescope picked up the blast from two neutron stars colliding.
The blast, called a kilonova, created the perfect conditions to make space gold and platinum.
The death of two neutron starsAn artist's impressino of a kilonova NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabA kilonova happens when two neutron stars — collapsed supermassive stars — gravitate around one another and eventually crash.
This particular blast, called GRB 230307A, was first detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on March 7, 2023, per Space.com.
These only arise in very limited circumstances, like when two neutron stars collide.
Persons:
James Webb, JWST, Fermi, Gold, Uli Deck, Andrew Levan
Organizations:
James Webb Space Telescope, Service, James Webb Space, Space Flight, Getty, Radboud University
Locations:
Wall, Silicon, Netherlands