“We are literally the ashes of long dead stars” said Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees. But what does that mean?

I apologise now, I’m going to get technical and anyone who has done chemistry will recognise this, if you hated it you will groan:

Yup, it’s the periodic table… with a difference.This picture of the periodic table (from Wikipedia) shows the elements, but highligted by their process of creation.

I’m going to take two examples, firstly Carbon (C- Top right ), important to us as we are Carbon based life forms. The highlight shows us that this was formed as part of the process of a star living and dying. The next one is Gold (Au – third line from the bottom, somewhere in the middle) this element is created then two neutron stars collide or when low mass stars die .

Just stop for one minute… think about it. Now stop before your brain implodes like mine just did. WTF?!!? The atoms that formed me came from a star that was dying and giving off carbon, I came from a star like Betelguese.

The ring on my finger, the metal used to make it was flung from a dying star as it tore itself to pieces. Or when two neutron stars collided (or when a star explodes apparently)in a process that if I was there (I couldn’t but bear with me on this) would have destroyed me completely and utterly into component atoms and then destroyed them… If the gold on my ring could tell a story, what would it tell me? It’s so incredible that it’s almost beyond comprehension.

One of my favourite comedy’s Blackadder had an episode where Lord Percy tryed out some alchemy to make dold and ended up making green…

Bless him… not even he could comprehend that in order to succeed he would have to destroy the Earth and the solar system to make gold. I hope I haven’t mangled your brains too much, but I really had to share this.

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Published by Simon

My name is Simon I'm an engineer, creator, free thinker and occasionally writer. For far too long I had ideas and nowhere to put them for the world to see, that's why Planet Simon was created. I'm an experimenter, explorer and fascinated by the world around me and the people in it. My exploration goes further than the known universe and expands out to universe's I've created in my mind and put onto the creative canvas. I'm not the person I used to be and over time I have evolved and the blog is evolving with me. Whatever this blog is in the future it's a place where all are welcome and ideas can roam free to find their magical place in the universe. I'm an experimenter, explorer and fascinated by the world around me and the people in it. My exploration goes further than the known universe and expands out to universe's I've created in my mind and put onto the creative canvas.

35 thoughts on “The Ashes of Dead Stars”

  1. That’s a pretty cool concept to think that all matter is created from the ashes of stars ….. from dust to dust takes on a new meaning doesn’t it? But then to create one has to destroy so I suppose it is only natural that all metals in the periodic table have their origin in some cosmic destruction…..WOW!

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      3. I know, I’ve been busy in the “real world” lately. And only on WordPress to post and for quick reading and “likes”when I can. Hope you’re well, have a good holiday, friend!

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  10. All of this makes me feel like my problems aren’t real problems. It’s a good thing to feel tiny once in a while. Relieves a lot of pressure and makes you feel like part of a bigger picture, yannow? Maybe I looked too deeply into it. Lol

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    1. I can’t blame you for skipping the periodic table, to be honest it still baffles me how it works, BUT it’s starting to make more sense now.
      I’m glad you found it interesting, I think it’s kind of wow!
      The way diamonds is amde is so cool – basically from compressed and heated carbon, so in a way, diamonds and humans share their major chemistry. How’s that for interesting?!?

      Liked by 1 person

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