Science Seminar

 

Stellar nucleosynthesis is the process that stars use to forge heavier elements in their cores. Up until a decade ago, most of the periodic table was accounted for with this process. However, the heaviest elements were still in question. Theoretically, an event know as a kilonova could provide the ideal spot for heavier element creation, but none had been observed. That all changed in 2017 when gravity waves (a very recent discovery) and a gamma ray burst revealed the first detectable kilonova. Did it confirm the hypothesis? Come and find out.