Where gold comes from
Neutron Star Merger
Two city-sized neutron stars locked in a decaying orbit. Their gravitational wave emission steals energy from the system, dragging them closer until they collide at nearly half the speed of light. The kilonova explosion forges elements heavier than iron — gold, platinum, uranium — and scatters them across the galaxy. The ring on your finger was made in a collision like this one.
PHASEINSPIRAL
ORBITAL PERIOD~18 ms
SEPARATION~300 km
CHIRP MASS1.2 M☉
The orbit is decaying because the system radiates gravitational waves — ripples in spacetime itself. Einstein predicted these in 1916. LIGO first detected them from a merger like this in 2017.