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We are galaxy stuff

  

Category:  Scattershooting,Ramblings & Life

Via:  larry-hampton  •  7 years ago  •  18 comments

We are galaxy stuff

galaxystuff.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sagan famously said that  we are made of star stuff . He meant the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms in our bodies, as well as atoms of all other heavy elements, were created inside stars. Yet Sagan’s expression of this idea, which quickly became a cornerstone of popular culture, might not take the concept far enough. According to astrophysicists at Northwestern University, our origins are much less local than previously thought. In fact, according to their analysis – which they say is the first of its kind – we’re not just star stuff. We’re galaxy stuff.

 

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Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton    7 years ago


This study is being published on July 26, 2017 (July 27 in the U.K.) by the  peer-reviewed  journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The Northwestern researchers found that up to half of the matter in our Milky Way galaxy may come from distant galaxies. As a result, each one of us may be made in part from extragalactic matter. That is, atoms of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and so on in our bodies may be created not just by stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, but by stars in far-flung galaxies.

They arrived at this conclusion using supercomputer  simulations . The study required the equivalent of several million hours of continuous computing.

The simulations show that supernova explosions eject great quantities of gas from galaxies, which causes the atoms made inside stars to be transported from one galaxy to another via powerful  galactic winds . According to their statement,  intergalactic transfer  is a newly identified phenomenon, which, they say, requires supercomputer simulations in order to be understood. According to these astrophysicists, this understanding is critical for knowing how galaxies evolve … and hence for knowing our own place in the universe.

Daniel Anglés-Alcázar  is a postdoctoral fellow in Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics ( CIERA ). He led the study, and he said:

It is likely that much of the Milky Way’s matter was in other galaxies before it was kicked out by a powerful wind, traveled across intergalactic space and eventually found its new home in the Milky Way.

Given how much of the matter out of which we formed may have come from other galaxies, we could consider ourselves space travelers or extragalactic immigrants.

Space is vast. Galaxies are located at almost inconceivable distances from each other. So, Alcázar and his team said, even though galactic winds propagate at several hundred kilometers per second, the process of intergalactic transfer occurs over billions of years.

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton  replied to  Larry Hampton   7 years ago

Life, all we associate with it and more, is a result of sharing.

,:~)

 
 
 
Randy
Sophomore Participates
link   Randy    7 years ago

I kinda like being thought of as Star Stuff more though. Happy

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton  replied to  Randy   7 years ago

Me too Randy. Our connection with the Universe, with Nature, is deeper than we realize!

:~)

 
 
 
Randy
Sophomore Participates
link   Randy  replied to  Larry Hampton   7 years ago

I've always been a Sagan guy because he was able to take the most complex astrophysics question or thought and distill it down to where anyone of a reasonable intelligence could understand it, without it losing any truth in the translation. Neil deGrasse Tyson can do the same thing, which should not be surprising since it was Sagan that is the reason he went into Astrophysics.

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton  replied to  Randy   7 years ago

“The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.”

―  Albert Einstein

 
 
 
One Miscreant
Professor Silent
link   One Miscreant  replied to  Larry Hampton   7 years ago

It makes the old "chicken or the egg" discussion look like a neighborhood conversation...

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton  replied to  One Miscreant   7 years ago

It is; The neighborhood just happens to be bigger than we first realized!

 
 
 
Randy
Sophomore Participates
link   Randy  replied to  Larry Hampton   7 years ago

And constantly growing at the speed of light...actually faster...

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
link   JohnRussell    7 years ago

It may be true that we began in far flung galaxies, but what , if anything does it mean?  The chances are that no human being will ever experience other galaxies as anything other than a digital readout or a theory.

The meaning largely exists in the imagination of it.

 
 
 
Randy
Sophomore Participates
link   Randy  replied to  JohnRussell   7 years ago

True, but what a wonderful imagination it is!

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton  replied to  JohnRussell   7 years ago

It may be true that we began in far flung galaxies, but what , if anything does it mean?  The chances are that no human being will ever experience other galaxies as anything other than a digital readout or a theory.

The meaning largely exists in the imagination of it.

It could as well be that our Galaxian ancestry is bound so intrinsically to reality, that our experience is such that we cannot see the forest for all the trees. Or, perhaps we forgot how to.

:~)

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
link   Kavika     7 years ago

Well I'm made up of mostly stuff from the Red planet. 

 

 
 
 
Randy
Sophomore Participates
link   Randy  replied to  Kavika   7 years ago

laughing dude  Like the book said, men are from Mars...

 
 
 
Enoch
Masters Quiet
link   Enoch    7 years ago

I am composed of 8.5% sales tax. All NY residents are.

Enoch

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
link   seeder  Larry Hampton  replied to  Enoch   7 years ago

LOL Enoch; best comment yet!

:~)

 
 

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