What's more, she said, "it seems that this weak r-process can be connected to supernovae of much lower masses than what we thought earlier." (Related: "How Planets Can Survive a Supernova.") "Stars with masses eight to nine times that of the sun may explode at the end of their lives as faint low-mass supernovae and create elements up to palladium and silver," she said, "but not heavier." The discovery allowed the team to put a limit on the metals certain types of supernovae can create. The researchers concluded that silver production occurs in less massive stars than those that produce gold-and through an entirely different type of nuclear fusion, called the weak r-process. "The amount of each element is directly connected to how strong the spectral lines are, which relates to how hot the star is," Hansen said. The team analyzed light wavelengths to discern the stars' chemical makeups. To pinpoint just how silver is produced, Hansen's team used computer modeling as well as observations of more than 70 massive stars. When these stellar titans die and explode, they spew new materials into space-the origin of most heavy metalĮlements on Earth, said lead study author Camilla Hansen, an astronomer at Heidelberg University in Germany. Rare heavy metals like silver and gold, however, need the most extreme stellar environments to form-found only during the explosions of massive stars, or supernovae. While most common light elements like hydrogen and helium were formed in the big bang, heavier elements like carbon and oxygen are formed within stars through nuclear fusion. (Related: "Huge Asteroids Brought Gold to Infant Earth, Study Says") Now a new study has identified the unique nuclear recipe for silver in space. It's long been known that earthly metals like gold and silver were forged in supernova explosions, but the metals' exact origins have been shrouded in mystery.
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March 2023
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