Thank Your Dusty Stars For Our Existence

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We owe ourexistence to a star that exploded long, long ago.

That's theconclusion of a study that aimed to solve the mystery of why oursolar system is enriched in a rare form of oxygen.

Astronomerscan probe the galaxy for signatures of different elements and their isotopes(atoms that have the same number of protons, but a different number ofneutrons) to see how they vary from region to region. They have long known thatthe solar system has a peculiarly high ratio of the two rarest forms of oxygen,but haven't known exactly why.

"Thishas been a problem for a long time," said study author Edward Young ofUCLA, who announced the finding Thursday at the 215th meeting of the AmericanAstronomical Society in Washington, D.C.

"Theyconfirm that the solar system is indeed unusual," Young said. It"sticks out like a sore thumb above the rest."

"Andin this case I think it's supernovae that are the culprit," Young said.

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Andrea Thompson
Andrea Thompson
Contributor

Andrea Thompson is an associate editor at Scientific American, where she covers sustainability, energy and the environment. Prior to that, she was a senior writer covering climate science at Climate Central and a reporter and editor at Live Science, where she primarily covered Earth science and the environment. She holds a graduate degree in science health and environmental reporting from New York University, as well as a bachelor of science and and masters of science in atmospheric chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology.