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Common chemical elements are created in stars like our sun. But heavy elements, like iron, are thought to form in massive stars that explode and spew material — though it might be more complicated.
Common chemical elements are created in stars like our sun. But heavy elements, like iron, are thought to form in massive stars that explode and spew material — though it might be more complicated.
Remnants of a supernova called Cassiopeia A, located in our galaxy about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Scientists have long thought that supernovae were responsible for the creation of the heaviest elements, but new research suggests other types of stellar events may also be in play. (NASA / CXC / RIKEN / T. Sato et al.; NuSTAR: NASA / NuSTAR) by Alex Fox/Smithsonianmag.com Scientists studying a hunk of Earth’s crust gathered from deep in the Pacific Ocean have discovered traces of rare forms of plutonium and iron whose chemical makeup suggests they were forged in powerful collisions or ex...
The first-ever discovery of an extraterrestrial radioactive isotope on Earth has scientists rethinking the origins of the elements on our planet. The tiny traces of plutonium-244 (Pu-244) were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago. Star explosions, or supernovae create many of the heavy elements in the periodic table, including those vital for human life, such as iron, potassium and iodine. To form even heavier elements, such as gold, uranium and plutonium it was th...
Here are some of the most interesting research papers to have appeared in top science journals last week.