Astronomers witness heavy elements emerge after bright gamma-ray burst

An international team of astronomers among whom dr. Giovanna Pugliese of the Anton Pannekoek Institute of the University of Amsterdam has discovered heavy elements in the wake of a bright gamma-ray burst in a galaxy about 1 billion light-years away. The burst occurred on March 7, 2023, when presumably two neutron stars merged to form a so-called kilonova. It is the first kilonova whose aftermath was observed using the James Webb Space Telescope. The researchers publish their findings Thursday in the journal Nature.