[MtnGoat]

The recent observation of two neutron stars merging in a blast creating 5 earth masses of gold plus other very heavy elements put this topic into the astronomy forefront last week. An interesting color coded periodic table shows the sources of every element..in your body, in the rocks, in the flowers and trees...every single atom, no exceptions, was created within a star or the explosion of a star... Stars are onion like with different layers synthesizing heavier elements via fusion...with still heavier ones requiring the energies of a supernova or neutron star merger...

[moonspots]

[Ski]

there's something wrong with that chart there in the first post - I'm not seeing any pergium, neutronium, or dilithium crystals on that list.

[Chico]

[tmatlack]

"We are stardust; we are golden. We are million year old carbon." Joni Mitchell/C.S.N.Y.

[MtnGoat]

More like billlions! pretty wild

[wolffie]

I think normal stellar fusion can't make heavier than Iron -- everything heavier requires a supernova. Also interesting: the Earth is heated largely by radioactive decay (mostly uranium); they calculate that solar heating is not nearly enough. If you really want to blow your mind, study some astronomy. The elegance is beautiful; everything we've learned, we've learned by just watching the sky, one way or another, and thinking about it. No science fiction writer could invent anything so strange.

[pcg]

[MtnGoat]

The incredible back story..observing this event solved a huge number of questions in one whack