When neutron stars merge, they create a powerful explosion called a kilonova that flings out neutron-rich material, some of which decays into heavy elements through a process called the r-process. Recent observations of kilonovae revealed unexpected signatures that could not be explained by exis...

Source: [Phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-07-heavy-element-exotic-neutron-star.html)

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