We are galaxy stuff
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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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:
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.
Life, all we associate with it and more, is a result of sharing.
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I kinda like being thought of as Star Stuff more though.
Me too Randy. Our connection with the Universe, with Nature, is deeper than we realize!
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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.
“The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.”
― Albert Einstein
It makes the old "chicken or the egg" discussion look like a neighborhood conversation...
It is; The neighborhood just happens to be bigger than we first realized!
And constantly growing at the speed of light...actually faster...
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.
True, but what a wonderful imagination it is!
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.
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Well I'm made up of mostly stuff from the Red planet.
I am composed of 8.5% sales tax. All NY residents are.
Enoch
LOL Enoch; best comment yet!
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