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EXPLODING STARS
SUPPLIED EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE
TELESCOPE REVEALS FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
Knight Tribune News Service
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
ATLANTA- A new space telescope has revealed the inner workings of a
stellar factory that produces enormous quantities of
oxygen-what one astronomer called "the real fountain of life" .
THE AIR WE BREATHE CAME FROM THE STARS WE SEE
Scientists think most of the oxygen we breathe was generated initiallyby a relatively small number of massive exploding stars known
as "supernovae". Along with other elements-the raw materials
of new stars and planets-this precious gas eventually
spread throughout the universe, including our own solar system.
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
"Such massive stars create lots of oxygen in their nuclear furnaces",
Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronomer Claude Canizares
said yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
"It was explosions of such supernovae that permitted life on Earth".
SUPERNOVA SPREAD OXYGEN THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE
Once life evolved on this planet, oxygen generation by bacteria
and plants became self sustaining.
Thus, humans today are not dependent upon supernovae for oxygen,
although such explosions continue to spread it through the cosmos.
The ring-shaped remnants of one such supernova-labeled E0102-72-
were studied on two occasions last fall by NASA's powerful
new Chandra E-Ray observatory.
THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD
When it blew up, the giant star, 15 to 25 times more massive than our sun ,
was 200,000 light-years from Earth in the Small Magellanic Cloud,
one of the galaxies closest to our own Milky Way.
(A light-year is about 6 trillion miles).
The brilliant light from the starburst reached Earth about 1,000 years ago
and could have been visible to the naked eyes of people in
Australia or South America Canizares said.
CHANDRA FROM NASA
Chandra, launched in July, carries an instrument called a high-energy
spectrometer that spreads out X-rays ,
much as a prism breaks up a beam of light, into a rainbow of different wavelengths.
It recognizes each element, such as carbon, oxygen or iron,
by its unique wavelength.
The Chandra images showed that about half the gas expelled by
the exploding star was oxygen-an unexpectedly high amount.
Elements such as iron and magnesium also were manufactured,
but in lesser amounts.
OXYGEN FROM A SUPERNOVA COULD SUPPLY
ONE THOUSAND SOLAR SYSTEMS
The oxygen from this supernova alone would weigh as much
as 10 of our suns, and would be enough to supply 1,000 solar systems
like our own, Canizares said.
The gas formed inside the star, where nuclear fusion of
primordial hydrogen gradually built up heavier elements,
such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and iron.
KATHY FLANAGAN MIT
WHEN YOU READ WHAT SHE SAYS
REMEMBER
I PROPOSED SUPERNOVA 1987A
TO BE THE 7TH SEAL OF REVELATION
"Understanding supernovae helps us to learn about the processes
that formed chemical elements like those which are found on Earth
and are necessary for life",
said Kathy Flanagan another MIT astronomer.
NEXT PARAGRAPH
THE OXYGEN WAS BAKED AND THEN SERVED TO US WHO LIKE TO BREATHE
" We have just seen a star rip its bellow open and show us what's inside",Canizares said. After the oxygen was "baked in the oven",
he added, it was "made available to those of us who like to take a breath".
THE NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO SUPERNOVA 1987A
THE SEVENTH SEAL OF REVELATION
The manufacture of oxygen and other elements in stars continues to this day.
An enormous supernova exploded in 1987 and more
are expected every 2 to 100 years.
The last in our own galaxy was in 1602.
THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IS ABOUT ETA CARINA
I HAVE PROPOSED ETA CARINA IS THE SEVENTH ANGEL OF REVELATION
However , a huge southern star called Eta Carinae,
9,000 light years away in the Milky Way may have already blown up
during the time it takes its light to reach earth, according to Stephen Maran,
an astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md.
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