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Astronomy

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    $\begingroup$ That makes more sense. Maybe it was just the way they worded it that made it confusing. That and timescales of this magnitude are difficult to comprehend. $\endgroup$
    – Benjam
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 19:39
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    $\begingroup$ So if I'm reading this correctly, the sun is part of the third generation of starts, but it has millions of parents, and millions of grandparents? (Each parent a direct ancestor, with no intermediate stars) $\endgroup$
    – Leliel
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 23:27
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    $\begingroup$ @Leliel It is third generation because it contains atoms/nuclei that must have been inside at least two other stars. Indeed it has (at least) millions of parents. But the concept of grandparent is ill-defined. The stars that fed into the parent stars were unlikely to be "first generation" stars themselves. I realise there is something additional I need to make clear. The very first generation of stars had no heavy elements inside them. $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 23:41
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    $\begingroup$ @RobJeffries Not a perfect analogy then. I think the concept of parent of parent star (grandparent) is well defined, it's any star that contributed mass to the parent star. Unlike with humans, a grandparent star isn't required to be an earlier generation than a parent, just not a later generation? Because if the grandparent was a later generation, it is likely some of the mass contribution to the parent would contain some elements not possible in earlier generations of star? $\endgroup$
    – Leliel
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 23:46
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    $\begingroup$ Considering the OP goes on a bit about lifespan of stars and the universe, I think that going into a bit of detail about the lifespans of the stars from different generations would be useful. $\endgroup$
    – Shane
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 15:40