Tiny Galaxy Hosts Rare Neutron-Star Collision in a Galactic Gas Stream
Astronomers using Chandra, Fermi, Swift and Hubble have pinpointed a neutron-star merger inside a tiny, faint galaxy embedded in a 600,000-light-year gas stream, likely created by a past galaxy collision. The event, GRB 230906A from 2023-09-06, helps explain gamma-ray bursts without obvious host galaxies and how heavy elements like gold and platinum can form and spread into galaxy outskirts.