The next time you’re looking up at the night sky, perhaps wishing upon a star, know that those stars are a part of you. That’s not Rumi, that’s the truth based on some new information that’s pretty enlightening about humans came to be the way we are.
A study has claimed that the calcium in our bones and teeth probably came from stars exploding in supernovas and scattering the mineral across the universe in huge quantities. In other words, we were star’struck’.
It is thought that half of the calcium in the universe came from calcium-rich supernovae, events that are so rare that scientists haven’t been able to study it much. Due to this, they weren’t sure how the calcium was created.
The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, was conducted by around 70 scientists from around the world.
Study author Wynn Jacobson-Galan said,
The stars responsible for calcium-rich supernovae shed layers of material in the last months before explosion. The X-ray emissions are the result of the explosion violently colliding with this ejected material and stimulating a brilliant burst of high energy photons. The heat and pressure of the explosion actually drives the chemical reaction that creates calcium.
Usually, only a small amount of calcium is produced by a star as it burns through its supply of helium, but when a calcium-rich supernova happens, huge amounts of calcium are created and released within seconds.
More importantly, what a fall from grace for the star. Imagine being a mighty star one second and being given a root canal the next…
Research into the observation of supernovas is ongoing, and scientists are planning a follow up study as well. As for me, I’m just enjoying the star life..