Energy News
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Webb observes the glowing embers of colliding neutron stars
marker illustration only
Webb observes the glowing embers of colliding neutron stars
by Staff Writers
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Nov 16, 2023

Gamma-ray bursts are brief flashes of the most energetic form of light, reaching us from the distant Universe. They have their origin in stellar explosions, but the exact circumstances are still debated. Now a team of researchers including astronomers from the Niels Bohr Institute has used the James Webb Space Telescope to study a gamma-ray burst, which turned out to be the second-brightest ever seen. The study, which has just been published in Nature, revealed the creation of the element tellurium which had not been recognized before.

About once per day, a brief flash of gamma radiation, the most energetic form of light, reaches Earth from the distant Universe. We have known these gamma-ray bursts for over 50 years, and for 25 years we have also seen their long-lasting "afterglows" of less energetic light, such as UV, visible, and infrared light. These afterglows have taught us that gamma-ray bursts have their origin in the immense explosions of dying stars.

But on 7 March 2023, the Universe decided to teach us something new.

As is always the case, the burst was caught by a satellite; in this case Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Such satellites can only pinpoint the location of the bursts very roughly, but immediately trigger automatic notifications to a network of astronomers, who then decide whether or not to take any action.

In this case, the burst turned out to be the second-brightest ever detected - action was definitely needed! First of all, was it bright because it was an extreme explosion, or because it was nearby?

Daniele Bjorn Malesani is an astronomer at the Cosmic Dawn Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, formerly at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He and his colleagues rushed to point two of the world's largest telescopes - the Gemini-South in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope in Chile - toward the location of the burst.

But comparing the results from the two telescopes revealed a puzzling result.

"We were lucky to be granted time at both telescopes," says Malesani. "The gamma-ray burst was rather long-lasting, over three minutes, which would normally imply that this were the result of a supernova. But comparing the results revealed that the afterglow was much brighter in the infrared than in the visible light. This is not expected from a supernova."

Instead, this infrared light hinted at another origin, namely a kilonova - the somewhat less energetic explosion following the collision of two compact neutron stars.

To space!
To investigate this unusual phenomenon, the astronomers wanted to observe it again. But with the afterglow quickly fading away, and with Earth's atmosphere absorbing a significant fraction of infrared light, there was only one option:

"We decided to request observing time at humankind's most advanced infrared observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope," says Luca Izzo, astronomer at INAF in Naples and affiliated with DARK, another research center at the Niels Bohr Institute, who also participated in the study. "The images from Webb established how exceptionally infrared the object was - a telltale sign of a kilonova."

Not only did the data confirm that the burst did indeed emerge from a kilonova; Webb also had another surprise for the astronomers.

A chemical furnace
Kilonovae are theorized to be the main mechanism for producing the majority of the heaviest half of all elements in the Universe, including gold, platinum, iodine, and plutonium. However, only a few kilonovae have been discovered so far, and in these only two heavy elements have ever been robustly detected, namely strontium and yttrium, with atomic numbers 38 and 39.

With the new discovery, it appears that the astronomers can now add a third to the list.

"We were thrilled when we realized what James Webb had provided: a spectral emission line that seems to be emitted from the 52nd element in the periodic table, tellurium," says Daniele Bjorn Malesani. "This substantiates our belief that the creation of heavy elements does happen when compact objects merge. The detection is really a remarkable feat, also showing that kilonovae can emit very bright gamma-ray bursts and, conversely, that some bursts do pinpoint kilonovae."

The last point is another reason why the discovery is important: Kilonovae were expected to be found due to their emission of gravitational waves, but as yet, only one has been located that way. The discovery therefore opens up a new avenue to find these chemical furnaces, namely by their emission of gamma-ray bursts.

The team of astronomers, which included several other members from DAWN and DARK, as well as many astronomers from other universities, report their findings in an article published in the journal Nature today.

Short or long?
Gamma-ray bursts come in two distinct categories, depending on how long they last: "short" bursts last typically 0.1-1 second, while "long" bursts last 10-100 seconds.

The long bursts are associated with stars ending their lives as the immense explosions known as supernovae. But the short ones are thought to arise from another type of explosion, a kilonova, which is somewhat less energetic (although you still should keep a safe distance).

A kilonova is the result of two compact neutron stars (or possibly a neutron star and a black hole) that orbit each other, spiral in, and finally merge. Recently it has become clear that many of the heavy elements, such as gold, silver, and platinum, are created in this process.

Moreover, when a kilonova explodes it emits gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime that propagate outward at the speed of light, and which we have only recently been able to detect.

Research Report:Heavy element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST

Related Links
Cosmic DAWN Center
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Blast from the past: Gamma-ray burst strikes Earth from distant exploding star
Paris (ESA) Nov 15, 2023
An enormous burst of gamma rays, detected by ESA's Integral space telescope, has struck Earth. The blast caused a significant disturbance in our planet's ionosphere. Such disturbances are usually associated with energetic particle events on the Sun but this one was the result of an exploding star almost two billion light-years away. Analysing the effects of the blast could provide information about the mass extinctions in Earth's history. At 14:21 BST / 15:21 CEST on 9 October 2022, an extremely b ... read more

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Banks could face rules on climate risk reporting

The big emitters: the United States

Italy's cabinet approves green transition investments

COP28 president 'cautiously optimistic' on success of key climate conference

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Glencore eyes options on battery recycling project

A novel approach to energy storage by University of Cordoba

Researchers aim to make cheaper fuel cells a reality

BMW probes Moroccan cobalt supplier over pollution claims

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Wind and solar projects can profit from bitcoin mining

Winds of change? Bid to revive England's onshore sector

Drones to transport personnel and materials to offshore wind farms

Interior Secretary Haaland announces 15 clean energy projects in the West

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
China Targets Breakthrough in Space Solar Energy Transmission

A spectrum of possibilities: insights into the evolution of far-red light photosynthesis

Tripling renewable energy by 2030 'ambitious but doable'

Perovskite oxide promises breakthrough in clean energy device efficiency

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
NASA's future space exploration bolstered by major plutonium-238 delivery

Europe's biggest nuclear reactor goes offline again

Framatome to set up fuel fabrication facility in the UK

Framatome signs a services contract with EDF for Flamanville 3 Instrumentation and Control

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Nigerians look to biofuel as cost of cooking gas soars

Chinese company gives leftover hotpot oil second life as jet fuel

Cheap and efficient ethanol catalyst from laser-melted nanoparticles

UK permits 'world-first' flight powered by sustainable fuels

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
US Defense officials to visit Guyana amid Venezuela row: Guyanese VP

Saudi works to boost oil demand despite climate pledges

COP28 president denies using climate talks to push oil deals

Norway court hears lawsuit over state's oil plans

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Five things to watch for at COP28 climate talks

Kerry says US and China must 'win climate battle' together

Developing world needs 'radical' surge in climate investment: UN experts

Climate change worsened Chinese extreme heat and flooding event in 2020: study

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.