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Scientists Found 10M y.o Remnants of Massive Kilonova in the Bottom of the Oceanwww.popularmechanics.com/space/a64240941/kilonova-ocean-plutonium/
0 sats \ 1 comment \ @ch0k1 22 Mar science
Headed for your next beach getaway? You’re probably going to be floating around in the debris of ancient star explosions.
When supermassive stars gasp their last proverbial breath and go supernova, they release tons of heavier elements into space, and some of that refuse has drifted down to Earth. Astronomer Brian Fields of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has now found evidence of something even more explosive. He and his research team discovered traces of a radioactive plutonium isotope from the deep sea that are actually remnants of a kilonova—the collision of two neutron stars—that is thought to have happened relatively close to Earth about 10 million years ago.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @johngalt 22 Mar
It makes you think about space research. It’s amazing to make discoveries like this, but at the same time, we have problems here on Earth that need attention too, like climate change and social crises. People are out there spending money to figure out how plutonium got to the bottom of the ocean, while we still haven’t solved some basic stuff here. So, is this research really necessary, or is it just another excuse to focus on things way more distant from our daily lives?
Anyway, it’s a fascinating discovery.
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