The Imagined Confirmed

"The observations showed we were observing a kilonova, an object whose light is powered by extreme nuclear reactions."
"This tells us that the heavy elements, like the gold or platinum in jewelry, are the cinders, forged in the billion-degree remnants of a merging neutron star."
Dr. Joe Lyman, University of Warwick

"The first discovery of gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars is a historic event."
"It is every bit as exciting as the first discovery of gravitational waves from merging black holes. Since this involves neutron stars that radiate light, for the first time we can also see what is going on in an extreme astronomical event that shakes up spacetime."
David Wiltshire, department of physics and astronomy, University of Canterbury

"We're all made of stardust, but gold, silver and platinum are made of neutron stardust."
"In this particular event, it's likely that hundreds or thousands of Earth masses of gold and other elements were made."
"If the rate of neutron star mergers is as high as we now think, these dying stars are now the source of most of these elements in the universe."
Dr. J.J. Eldridge, astro-physicist, University of Auckland

"This discovery has answered three questions that astronomers have been puzzling for decades -- what happens when neutron stars merge? What causes the short duration gamma ray bursts? Where are the heavy elements, like gold, made?"
"In the space of about a week all three of these mysteries were solved."
Dr. Samantha Oates, University of Warwick astrophysics group

New source in galaxy NGC 4993   space in images

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory  in Washington and Louisiana a few short months ago validated as a reality a prediction that Albert Einstein proposed fully one hundred years ago. Einstein's theories, clarity in his mind, imponderable in the minds of most humans incapable of grasping the intuitive leaps of imagining the mechanics of the universe, have over time been shown to be amazingly scientifically clairvoyant. His visionary genius guided the science of astrophysics, theoretical physics.

His successors have built upon his theories, his advice, his philosophical view of science and the natural phenomena that we struggle to fully comprehend. One can only wonder what he might make of the great strides that have been realized since his death? What, above all, he might have taken out of the latest observations of the heavens. That scientists' theories that cataclysmic collisions of neutron stars and the monumental explosive force that ensued would create the sought-after precious metals mined on Earth, have seen observable confirmation.

These events of unimaginable force, dimensions, time-space occurrences where supernovas created from the death of giant stars become neutron stars where protons and electrons combine forming neutrons in the creation of tiny, dense stars and then collide in a spectacular burst of fierce energy, spewing debris hundreds of millions of years in the past, in a sense mimic the creation of the universe as we know it, through the Big Bang theory when planets and stars emerged.

Neutron stars merging     Space.com

The sheer magnitude of the event, the concussion that followed, were picked up in a space-time ripple in the detection of gravitational waves. The signal picked up by the LIGO Washington/Louisiana observatory by American astronomers was the remnant of a cosmic event at a time on Earth when dinosaurs made their home here, 130 million years ago. Space and time were rattled, to send gravitational waves throughout the universe in a powerful reaction.

Once the exciting word got out, astronomers worldwide aimed  heir telescopes toward the identified area of space, to pick up the infrared afterglow caused by the monumental collision and within that light they found the unique chemical signatures for gold, silver and platinum. The stars, before colliding, were 10 kilometres wide, yet each as heavy as our own sun. (A teaspoon-size of neutron star material has an estimated mass of a billion tons.)Their galaxy was NGC 4993, and gravity drew them to each other over millions of years as they revolved around each other more and more swiftly until they span at a rate of 500 times per second before crashing.

Another bonus from the discovery appears to be the realization that the mystery of what creates shortwave gamma ray bursts picked up on Earth may lead to future discoveries including how fast the universe is expanding. Stardust produces sensate, animate forms of life, it seems, while neutron dust creates dense material, inanimate, rare and costly. Will this discovery spur a precious metals rush into space to mine it of its treasures?

This map shows the locations of all five gravitational-wave signals detected by LIGO since the first detection in 2015. In the background is an optical image of the Milky Way; the discoveries are plotted on the entire celestial sphere, which is represented as a translucent dome. The gravitational waves come from relatively small sources (the two neutron stars were each only about the size of a large city),   Space.com