Various stages of the merger of two neutron stars are shown in this simulation sequence; the images cover a period of about one-hundredth of a second. Once the stars collide, material is squeezed out between the stars and gets stripped off from tidal tails. In the material ejected, a multitude of nuclear reactions takes place, producing heavy elements. Photo by S. Goriely, A. Bauswein, and H.-T. Janka (MPA) The cosmic site where the heaviest chemical elements such as lead or gold are formed has likely been identified: Ejected matter from neutron stars merging in a violent collision provides ideal conditions. In detailed numerical simulations, scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Garching, Germany, and affiliated to the Excellence Cluster Universe and of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium have verified that the relevant reactions of atomic nuclei do take place in this environment, producing the heaviest elemen
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