You Are Made Of Stardust

You Are Made of Stardust

Though the billions of people on Earth may come from different areas, we share a common heritage: we are all made of stardust! From the carbon in our DNA to the calcium in our bones, nearly all of the elements in our bodies were forged in the fiery hearts and death throes of stars.

The building blocks for humans, and even our planet, wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for stars. If we could rewind the universe back almost to the very beginning, we would just see a sea of hydrogen, helium, and a tiny bit of lithium.

The first generation of stars formed from this material. There’s so much heat and pressure in a star’s core that they can fuse atoms together, forming new elements. Our DNA is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. All those elements (except hydrogen, which has existed since shortly after the big bang) are made by stars and released into the cosmos when the stars die.

Each star comes with a limited fuel supply. When a medium-mass star runs out of fuel, it will swell up and shrug off its outer layers. Only a small, hot core called a white dwarf is left behind. The star’s cast-off debris includes elements like carbon and nitrogen. It expands out into the cosmos, possibly destined to be recycled into later generations of stars and planets. New life may be born from the ashes of stars.

Massive stars are doomed to a more violent fate. For most of their lives, stars are balanced between the outward pressure created by nuclear fusion and the inward pull of gravity. When a massive star runs out of fuel and its nuclear processes die down, it completely throws the star out of balance. The result? An explosion!

Supernova explosions create such intense conditions that even more elements can form. The oxygen we breathe and essential minerals like magnesium and potassium are flung into space by these supernovas.

Supernovas can also occur another way in binary, or double-star, systems. When a white dwarf steals material from its companion, it can throw everything off balance too and lead to another kind of cataclysmic supernova. Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will study these stellar explosions to figure out what’s speeding up the universe’s expansion.

This kind of explosion creates calcium – the mineral we need most in our bodies – and trace minerals that we only need a little of, like zinc and manganese. It also produces iron, which is found in our blood and also makes up the bulk of our planet’s mass!

A supernova will either leave behind a black hole or a neutron star – the superdense core of an exploded star. When two neutron stars collide, it showers the cosmos in elements like silver, gold, iodine, uranium, and plutonium.

Some elements only come from stars indirectly. Cosmic rays are nuclei (the central parts of atoms) that have been boosted to high speed by the most energetic events in the universe. When they collide with atoms, the impact can break them apart, forming simpler elements. That’s how we get boron and beryllium – from breaking star-made atoms into smaller ones.

Half a dozen other elements are created by radioactive decay. Some elements are radioactive, which means their nuclei are unstable. They naturally break down to form simpler elements by emitting radiation and particles. That’s how we get elements like radium. The rest are made by humans in labs by slamming atoms of lighter elements together at super high speeds to form heavier ones. We can fuse together elements made by stars to create exotic, short-lived elements like seaborgium and einsteinium.

From some of the most cataclysmic events in the cosmos comes all of the beauty we see here on Earth. Life, and even our planet, wouldn’t have formed without them! But we still have lots of questions about these stellar factories.

In 2006, our Stardust spacecraft returned to Earth containing tiny particles of interstellar dust that originated in distant stars, light-years away – the first star dust to ever be collected from space and returned for study. You can help us identify and study the composition of these tiny, elusive particles through our Stardust@Home Citizen Science project.

Our upcoming Roman Space Telescope will help us learn more about how elements were created and distributed throughout galaxies, all while exploring many other cosmic questions. Learn more about the exciting science this mission will investigate on Twitter and Facebook.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

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susanamode

10 years ago

Tonight’s tweet out to save #AlmostHuman 8pm ET, 7 CT, 6 MT, 5 PT (#)SaveAlmostHuman

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susanamode

1 year ago

I am at fault for everything wrong that ever happened in my mother's life.

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susanamode

11 years ago

Don't reblog this. Just screenshot and tag your OTPs.

Tags

Exotic animal it was a costume they even do a plusie of the fucking dog xD

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susanamode

2 years ago

something different.

an attempt in figuring out how to write a dom tobi / sub mada

i really don't know about this. 🤔 ah well whatever. scrap for me but you may read for fun.

Madara narrowed his eyes.

There were flowers on his desk. There was also a box of dango, and they both made a rather odd sight because people just didn’t leave flowers and dango on his desk. However, they were there, and they stood out prominently.

“If you stare at them any longer, you’ll set them on fire,” Tobirama said.

“What is this?” Madara asked, flinging an arm out at the rather offending items.

“What do you think?”

Madara glared at him. “That is not an answer.”

His dynamic was not a secret, but his demeanor kept people from acting upon the fact. A very good thing because Madara thought most doms were idiots. They had not a single clue how to navigate a conversation, much less a relationship. He knew it was only a matter of time before he would be approached, being a key member of Konoha and supposedly easy to take advantage of, never mind the fact that he alone could face Hashirama Senju. However, Madara did not expect to find such deplorable gifts this early in the morning or in his office.

“It is,” Tobirama said. The man was infuriatingly calm, and that was—

“You,” Madara said, and he had a hold of Tobirama’s kendogi before the man could blink. Tobirama didn’t resist, allowing himself to be dragged closer toward Madara. “You did this.”

Tobirama merely blinked, white lashes soft and slow against the top of his cheeks. “Yes.”

“Why?” Madara shook him just a little, and he swore to god that he thought Tobirama was the more sensible one of the two Senju brothers.

“Why does anyone leave flowers and sweets?” Tobirama retorted, and his hand came up. His fingers were cool against Madara’s hand as he pried himself out of Madara’s grip. His red eyes looked at Madara, keen.

Madara studied Tobirama for a long moment. There was nothing in that face staring back at him impassively. The only hint was the slightest fluctuations to Tobirama’s chakra, normally smooth and steady as an undisturbed lake.

And it was easy to stop forward, push Tobirama into the desk. This time, a dark pink flush graced Tobirama’s cheeks.

“So…” Madara drawled. “You wish to court me, is that right?”

Tobirama swallowed, and Madara’s eyes tracked that bob of throat easily. “Yes.”

“Why, Tobirama? What makes you think you can be in charge of me?”

Because Madara wasn’t going to just let any dom court him. Tobirama Senju may have been a better choice than most, but he was also one that would induce the most headaches. A relationship between them was never just a relationship between them, not with their clans and duties to the village.

“I don’t,” Tobirama said, and a smile curved onto those lips. “Anyone who thinks they can be in charge of you is a fool, but—”

Madara found their position reversed as Tobirama flipped them easily, and this time it was Tobirama pushing him into the desk. It was a nice show of strength for a man so whipcord thin, enough that Madara didn’t fight the way Tobirama pressed him further down just narrowly missing the flowers and dango there.

“ —if you allow it, if you wish it…I could take charge as you please. I could keep you on edge, numb your senses to the world.”

“Is that so?” Madara asked, and he was surprised to find his own breath a little short. Tobirama’s face was close enough for him to see clearer into those red eyes, dark and filled with promises. Their lips were mere centimeters apart.

“My nature does not dictate me in the way I work, but when it comes to this, to you…it can only be as you wish and please.”

“Are you truly that sort of dom?” Madara asked. Words were words, and he trusted the man enough to build Konoha alongside Hashirama but not here. Never here where it was personal and close to his heart, where Madara needed to guard himself.

“Have I forced you to lie beneath me like this?”

“No.”

Tobirama smirked. “Why then do you lie before me so, enticing and enchanting, and I still have yet to kiss you?”

Madara swallowed. “You jest.”

“Ah,” Tobirama said. “You allowed.”

“So I have,” Madara replied, and he had not known when he had trusted Tobirama enough for that to happen. That he allowed Tobirama to maneuver him without complaint or fight.

“Your submission is earned, not forced.” Tobirama pulled back until he was no longer looming over Madara. “I have declared my intent, but you may wait to give me your answer. I only ask you not to…to tarry.”

And Tobirama’s chakra wavered, dipped a little, and Madara could see the pinkness to those cheeks had not faded but rather deepened. The man wasn’t quite as smooth or confident as he portrayed, and this time it was Madara’s lips curling into something dangerously wicked as he pushed himself up to sit upon the desk.

“I have my answer.”

“Al-already?” Tobirama asked, his voice strangled. “You, you do not need to be hasty. I would—”

“You may.”

Tobirama’s mouth snapped shut. He stared at Madara in disbelief. Then, “I—I may?”

“Where’s your bravado?” Madara asked, and he allowed his legs to part in invitation. “You may have one kiss.”

“Oh,” Tobirama said. “Oh!”

Madara tried not to laugh as Tobirama almost tripped to stand between Madara’s legs, and then he had no words as Tobirama gently tilted his chin up. Placed a soft sweet kiss onto his mouth.

He shivered, feeling a tingle down his spine, and he closed his eyes allowing Tobirama to guide the kiss into something deeper. When they finally broke apart, Tobirama’s eyes were a bit hazy as if clouded over.

“Hm,” Madara hummed. Tobirama Senju would do.

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susanamode

5 years ago

“But mother, forgive me” in “Fly boy blue / Lunette” from Elbow. But nobody understands why that song makes me cry :/

do you ever get attached to like one line or phrase from a song and it holds so much meaning to you but no one else understands how powerful those few words are to you

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susanamode

11 years ago

submitted by anonymous

You Are Made Of Stardust

You Are Made of Stardust

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