Tangle writes:
"What this new mode implies is that up to one-half of the atoms around usincluding in the solar system, on Earth and in each one of uscomes not from our own galaxy but from other galaxies, up to one million light years away,"
Where does our 'stuff' come from, anyway?
I have 2 thoughts/questions:
1. I was always (uneducated-ly) under the assumption that all atoms/elements we see today were created from previous long-ago star explosions and such? Not like... a few star-generations ago.. but loooooooooong ago.
With atoms/elements being created so long ago, I always thought they were from not-our-galaxy (or at least, not our recognizable galaxy) anyway. Is this 'really big news' in the field?
2. Don't most atoms and stuff have a half-life in the millions-of-years range?
Isn't the earth billions of years old?
Wouldn't that mean ALL atoms and stuff on earth are being created (or re-created?) on earth unless our world is constantly being bombarded with a fresh source of new atoms and stuff from space?
Wouldn't most of any atoms' life be taken up in it's travel-time-to-earth if it came from up to one million light years away?