We constantly hear talk of ‘striking it rich with a gold deposit’, especially from the gold-rush days of the 1800’s. But where did gold come from? How was it created? And why is it so prevalent on Earth when Earth formed 3.8 billion years ago?

As a star ages and its fuel supply of hydrogen burns out, the star contracts, raising its temperature which provides the energy for the heavier elements to form. This continues until iron starts forming. A normal star cannot produce any elements heavier than iron unless it goes supernova. Heavier elements form in the cataclysm.

But supernovas need stars at the end of their lives and the resulting matter does not extend with any uniformity throughout the cosmos.

Something must have produced heavy elements early on in the universe’s evolution.

Recently, scientists believe they might have the answer, or at least one explanation.

Neutron stars are the remnants of the explosive death of stars turning supernova. Some of these neutron stars, called magnetars, have strong magnetic fields which occasionally produce ‘starquakes’.

These starquakes produce cracks the star’s crust releasing large quantities of gamma rays and tightly clustered neutron conglomerations. Sometimes a single atom can capture a huge number of these neutrons which then undergo a ‘rapid process’ of decay, producing the protons for the lighter ‘heavy’ element from the conglomeration, some of which will be gold.

The scientists believe this might explain a much earlier creation of the heavier elements, at a higher concentration and uniformity, in the universe than what could have been produce with just supernova explosions.

Reviewing astronomical data collected 20 years ago has verified the gamma rays radiating from suspected magnetars within the Milky Way.

Much more research is needed to give scientists confidence this theory is correct, but it looks promising.

So, the gold in the ring I wear could have been created sometime in the dim past at the beginning of the universe. That’s what I call old.