Gold is one of the most precious metals on Earth, but its story begins long before our planet existed. Scientists have discovered that gold was not created on Earth at all – it was formed in space, during extremely violent cosmic events. Normal stars, including the Sun, cannot make heavy elements like gold because they lack the required energy. Instead, gold is formed through an extraordinary process called rapid neutron capture (r-process), which occurs only during supernova explosions or neutron star collisions.

When two neutron stars crash, they release enormous energy, producing heavy elements such as gold, platinum, and uranium. In 2017, astronomers observed such a collision for the first time through gravitational waves and confirmed that it created huge amounts of gold in space.

Billions of years ago, this gold floated through the Universe as cosmic dust and mixed with the material that later formed the Earth. Meteorite impacts helped push the gold deep into the planet’s crust and mantle, which is why mining requires deep excavation today.

The Universe is still making gold through these rare events, but Earth cannot create more naturally - which is why gold remains limited, rare, and highly valuable.