Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2023

49 JULY-AUGUST 2023 ASTRO PUBLISHING A stronomers using data from the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Pro- gram of NSF’s NOIRLab, have made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova — the ultra- powerful, gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars. These systems are so phenomenally rare that only about 10 such systems are thought to exist in the entire Milky Way. [Im- ages and Videos: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, Fermilab, T. Puzia (PUC), J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani, P. Marenfeld, N. Bart- mann. Music: Stellardrone - In Time]