Supernova are the explosions of giant stars the smallest of which are at least 10 times the size of our sun. There have been three of them observed by naked eye astronomers over the last thousand years. The Crab Nebula pictured here is the remnant of one that was observed widely starting July 4, 1054 and lasting for a couple of years. It was bright enough to be visible during the day for 23 days after it was first seen. There is a pulsar in the center of nebula that is the remains of the star that exploded.
Creation of heavy metals
One cool thing about exploding stars is that they create some heavy metals as a result of the process. Lots of these heavier elements are needed for life. It is interesting to think of the process where in the last few moments of a stars life it runs out of lighter hydrogen and helium and starts quickly creating some of the heaver elements before exploding.
All of life depends on the creation of these things, the destruction of one large star leading to the birth of so much more.
Solar system origin
The latest theory that I have heard of is that one relatively small supernova went off and created the conditions needed to form our solar system from a nebula. This small supernova sent shock-waves through a large cloud of gas and dust causing it to make spots dense enough to collapse into the plants and sun.
The formation of planets from the explosion of a star - it seems believable to me.
Stardust
A lot of stardust or cosmic dust falls on earth every day. Estimates vary but maybe 0.40 to 110 tons per day? Lots of it comes from stars exploding, cosmic rays, materials being churned around in the solar system and materials formed in the birth of the universe. (From what I could understand from my reading) I wonder if perhaps most of it came for one big old star for our solar system?
I’ve heard these minerals fall down into the sky and create materials that help the plants grow. The rain washes down through the atmosphere picking up these nutrients. Volcanoes and erosion add more minerals to the mix.
We need these these minerals too. The water washes over the rocks providing us a nice mixture of things. Our bodies are made from 93% stardust by mass. Some people drink very purified water or distilled water but I don’t think this is healthy. I’ve heard that distilled water can leach the minerals out of your system if you drink it all the time.
Our journey through the galaxy
As our little spaceship planet earth journeys around the galaxy I’m sure there is some variation in the type of stardust and the composition of it that we encounter. We know small variation of minerals in our diet can change our emotional state greatly. For example, supplementing lithium into your diet can change your mental processes making you think differently; it is often used in treating bi-polar illness.
It feels like we have been traveling through a long period of some very dark emotional times. The last few thousand years have been filled with much suffering and very few times of peace.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring. A change in the composition or amount of stardust could spur on new growth of plant life or perhaps even change our own thoughts and feelings just a little bit as the mineral content of the environment changes. These little changes could bring about big changes. I think there is so many interactions between things that we don’t have much knowledge about.
Emotions
Maybe I’m a bit unusual but I was literally moved to tears while starting at this picture of the Crab Nebula. It suddenly occurred to me that what I was viewing was the embryonic birth of who knows what. Planets, stars, beings? Best wishes and congratulations on the new baby it sure is a pretty one.
Almost a thousand years ago astronomers gazed at the night sky seeing a new bright star with the naked eye. I wonder about their feelings about it, and what they thought when it went out. From what I read it sounded like the Chinese astronomers thought it was a bad omen that foretold the death of their emperor.
It feels like such a miracle to me that we can now view these detailed images of the nebula after so many years of darkness. The mystery of what happened to the star has been answered to some degree from the cooperation and knowledge of many sources.
Things have finally cooled enough to become very interesting around here as compared to the heat and energetics of the baby Crab Nebula. I look around and feel the deep interrelationship of all that I observe.
The Christmas lights flicker on the fireplace - the cheap LED’s light up only over half the AC waveform. I’m wondering if this is flashing 30 times a second because the cycle of AC is 60 cycles per second? If so, it is flickering at the same 30 times a second as the spinning pulsar that remains as the heavy solid core of the supernova that exploded forming the Crab Nebula. The blue lights are so indistinct as the shorter wavelengths seem to look differently with the flickering but they all look beautiful, I’m reminded of how wondrous life is.
What are we?
So are we stardust? Stardust needs worms and plants to turn it into soil that is fit for more plants to grow on. Are we energetic beings stuck in a physical body? In a way everything seems to be a form of energy, yet even energy needs a form to flow through.
To me we are so much more that just what we can point our finger at. We try to answer these things through our mind and deep analysis of the physical world but real answer must be felt within.
The interrelationship of all things leaves tantalizing clues to what we are.
Sources
Daily Camera Science did a supernova spark the solar system?
Wikipedia Supernova
How much of the human body is made up of stardust?
Image credits – Crab Nebula public domain image per Wikipedia:
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