Details aside, the story is simple. The universe began with the Big Bang. From this event came two elements: hydrogen and helium. The first stars ever � the so-called Population III stars � formed from these primordial gases and shone brightly in the early universe. Those stars eventually died, some as supernovae, and in the process released elements heavier than helium. These new elements, known in astronomical circles as “metals,” were incorporated into the second generation of stars, which in turn lived, exploded, and produced more metals. Some 9 billion years after the Big Bang our Sun formed, and along with its hydrogen and helium, inside it are several generations of supernova-produced metals.
A long-sought astronomical Holy Grail is the discovery of any still-living Population III stars. Their interiors would contain the most pristine Big Bang material known. While that discovery remains elusive, astronomers have uncovered the next best thing: the most metal-poor star known � a telltale second-generation star.
Share:
Eureka – A Prose Poem – Edgar Allan Poe
I design to speak of the Physical, Metaphysical and Mathematical � of the Material and Spiritual Universe:� of its Essence, its Origin, its Creation, its Present Condition and its Destiny. I shall be so rash, moreover, as to challenge the conclusions, and thus, in effect, to question the sagacity, of many of the greatest and most justly reverenced of men.
In the beginning, let me as distinctly as possible announce � not the theorem which I hope to demonstrate � for, whatever the mathematicians may assert, there is, in this world at least, no such thing as demonstration � but the ruling idea which, throughout this volume, I shall be continually endeavoring to suggest.
My general proposition, then, is this: � In the Original Unity of the First Thing lies the Secondary Cause of All Things, with the Germ of their Inevitable Annihilation.
Share:
Every year on June 17, Diego Goldberg and his family photograph themselves. The results speak for themselves.
Share:
Woo.
Share:
1 2