{"id":927787,"date":"2026-10-14T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927787\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T11:50:11","slug":"remains-of-extremely-rare-cosmic-gold-factory-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927787\/","title":{"rendered":"Remains of extremely rare cosmic \u2018gold factory\u2019 discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"

A high-energy gamma-ray source in the Milky Way<\/a>, whose origin has long remained unexplained, could be emerging from the cataclysmic, gold<\/a>-producing collision of the remnants of two stars<\/a>, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n

The energy source, dubbed HESS J1507\u2212622, was detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (Hess<\/a>) telescope array in Namibia during 2006-2007.<\/p>\n

It stood out due to the gamma rays emerging from the source without any counterpart at lower energies, such as radio waves or X-rays<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The source also lay away from the main plane of the Milky Way, where most of the galaxy’s stars and many known high-energy sources<\/a> are concentrated.<\/p>\n

\"Artistic<\/p>\n

Artistic illustration of a kilonova (R. Dienel, Carnegie Institution for Science via Eurekalert)<\/p>\n

Previous research has suggested that the gamma rays could be emerging from the remnants of a supernova<\/a> stellar explosion.<\/p>\n

While studies have been published widely on the discovery since 2010, the exact cosmic source of the gamma rays<\/a> has remained a mystery.<\/p>\n

Now, researchers predict that the unusual gamma rays could be coming from the “kilonova” merger of two highly dense neutron stars<\/a>, which themselves are compact remnants of massive stars.<\/p>\n

“The ability of the kilonova scenario to consistently account for the observed properties of HESS J1507\u2212622 makes it a compelling hypothesis,” scientists write in a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study posted on arXiv.<\/p>\n

Neutron stars orbiting one another can gradually lose energy and spiral together into a cataclysmic collision called a kilonova, which releases a tremendous amount of energy and throws neutron-rich material into space.<\/p>\n

These neutron star collisions are known to create heavy chemical elements through a process in which atomic nuclei capture neutrons rapidly and undergo transformations that produce heavier elements like gold, platinum, and iron.<\/p>\n

Scientists suspect a kilonova remnant would best explain several puzzling features of HESS J1507\u2212622.<\/p>\n

If confirmed, the finding could mark the first kilonova identified in the Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n

Since most of the Milky Way’s stars exist within the relatively thin plane of the galaxy, researchers suspect the HESS J1507\u2212622 source is most likely the remnant of a binary system of neutron stars.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Image shows the glow from a kilonova caused by the merger of two neutron stars (Nasa)<\/p>\n

Such a neutron star binary can receive a substantial velocity kick when one or both stars form, kicking it off the galaxy’s plane.<\/p>\n

In the new study, scientists developed a mathematical model to determine whether the debris from a neutron-star merger could produce the kind of gamma rays astronomers observed.<\/p>\n

They modelled a hypothetical kilonova remnant, considering its age, distance, the energy released during the neutron star merger, the amount of material ejected, as well as the speed at which that material expanded.<\/p>\n

Researchers calculated how energetic particles from the kilonova remnant would produce radiation and compared the predictions with measurements of HESS J1507\u2212622.<\/p>\n

They found that a kilonova-remnant model could reproduce the observed gamma-ray emission.<\/p>\n

“Importantly, our analysis favours a kilonova remnant younger than 1,000 years,” scientists wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A high-energy gamma-ray source in the Milky Way, whose origin has long remained unexplained, could be emerging from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,128],"class_list":["post-927787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}