In August 2017, an explosion was spotted by scientists in a previously obscure galaxy called NGC 4993. The observation of that cataclysmic explosion has helped to explain the origin of gold on Earth.

According to scientists, the burst of gravitational waves with tiny ripples in the fabric of space was an ultra-powerful collision between two neutron stars. Those collisions are in fact the cosmic forge in which gold and other precious metals are made, before being flung out into the universe.

The debris from the stellar collision included gold during analysis of the different wavelengths of the explosion’s spectrum. The explosive collision between the neutron stars propelled glowing debris into space at 300 million kph – around one-third of the speed of light

Neutron star collisions occur only about once every 10,000 years in the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists, however, say that their conditions are so favorable to r-process nucleosynthesis (it creates elements like gold and platinum) that they are likely to be the main source of gold and other heavy elements.