Timeline for How many times has the matter in our Solar System been recycled from previous stars?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 3, 2015 at 7:27 | comment | added | ProfRob | @Annixx In our Galaxy, there are likely more than $10^{10}$ white dwarfs, $10^{9}$ neutron stars and perhaps $10^{8}$ black holes. | |
| Jan 2, 2014 at 17:13 | vote | accept | Clinton Pierce | ||
| Jan 2, 2014 at 17:13 | |||||
| Feb 15, 2011 at 3:50 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | @Anixx: A star's lifetime depends mostly on its initial mass (and to a lesser degree on its initial metalicity). Big stars burn fast. Really big stars burn incredibly fast. Stars that go supernova have lifetimes much, much shorter than the present age of the universe. | |
| Feb 14, 2011 at 2:09 | comment | added | Anixx | "Others could have been swallowed by larger objects, e.g. the black hole at the galactic center." the BHs mostly formed from gas/dust clouds. "The lifetime of an average star is not far from the current age of the Universe." now, yes. But first stars had much shorter liftime otherwise how could they explode before Sun formed? | |
| Feb 13, 2011 at 23:06 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | @Anixx To add to what Luboš said about the loss of heavy stars (more than ~9 solar masses), those medium mass stars that have died formed white dwarfs, and have been cooling ever since. Though they are initially very hot white dwarfs are very small and consequently have low luminosity, which means that we can only see them close up. None-the-less, the wikipedia article says that one count found eight in the nearest hundred stars. So, the answer is "They are all around us." | |
| Feb 7, 2011 at 21:03 | comment | added | Luboš Motl | It depends which stars. The remains of those that went supernova were distributed across vast distances in the skies, for example: almost all the material explodes away. Others could have been swallowed by larger objects, e.g. the black hole at the galactic center. But I think that there haven't been too many stars that are already dead. The lifetime of an average star is not far from the current age of the Universe. | |
| Feb 7, 2011 at 17:44 | comment | added | Anixx | And where are all those burned out stars? | |
| Feb 3, 2011 at 7:49 | history | edited | Luboš Motl | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Jan 24, 2011 at 18:15 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | Of course, current hydrogen and other light elements arising from the big bang may have made up part of the mass of one or more stars along the way... | |
| Jan 24, 2011 at 18:05 | history | answered | Luboš Motl | CC BY-SA 2.5 |