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SOAR Fall 2004
The Children of Earth
The Origin Of Metals
Only elements lighter than iron can
be made in living stars.
Light elements
from living stars
Heavy elements from …
Giant
Stars
Have
layers
fusing
different
elements
Iron
Iron is the most stable element
 ABSORBS energy in fusion
 ABSORBS energy in fission
When iron core begins to fuse
 energy is absorbed by reaction
 core cools … contracts
 outer layers begin to fall in
 star implodes … outer layers
bounce off dense inner core
 star explodes …
Supernova
Crab
Nebula
Supernova
Observed in
1054 by
Chinese &
Anazazi
Capella
in Auriga
Castor
in Gemini
Pollux
in Gemini
M1
Aldebaran
in Taurus
Procyon
in Canis Minor
Rigel
in Orion
Sirius
in Canis Major
Supernova
Remnant
Crab Nebula
“Guest Star” in,
Taurus noted in
Chinese records in
1054 and on rock
overhang in Chaco
Cañon, NM.
Is still expanding …
still exploding!
Crab Nebula
VLT Optical Image
Crab Pulsar
Neutron star pulses! Initially called “LGM”
for “little green men.”
Crab Nebula
Core of
exploded
star is a
neutron
star
Inner
Crab
Combined
HST
optical and
Chandra
X-ray
images
The first pulsar discovered!
Pulsars
Rapidly Rotating
Neutron Stars
Emission
“beamed” by
magnetic fields
Bright when
beam points at
Earth
Stars “spin-up”
during collapse
like spinning
skater
Eta
Carinae
A star 100
times the
mass of Sol
…in death
throes
Southern Sky from CTIO
SMC
 Cen
1.5 m
 Cen telescope
LMC


4 m telescope


Southern
Cross
(Crux)
Cerro Tololo Interamerican
Observatory La Serena, Chile
Starry
Night
Cerro Tololo Interamerican
View Observatory La Serena, Chile
Eta
Carinae
“… Bathe yourself in
the ocean of matter;
plunge into it where
it is deepest and
most violent; struggle
in its currents and
drink of its waters.
“For it cradled you long
ago in your preconscious
existence; and it is that
ocean that will raise you
up to God.”
Teilhard de Chardin
The Milky Way Galaxy
Sun ~ 30,000 ly
from center
Galactic Year
~225,000,000
yr (Sol is ~22)
M87, a galaxy much like the Milky Way
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-1999/pr-18-99.html
Solar System
 Sun & Planets formed from interstellar
clouds collapsing under gravity
Solar
System
Inner
Worlds:
Mercury,
Venus,
Earth,
Mars
1 AU = 150,000,000 km
= 93,000,000 mi
Positions at 17:00 UT, 1/23/04
Solar
System
Outer
Worlds:
Jupiter,
Saturn,
Uranus,
Neptune,
Pluto
SS width ~ 12,000,000,000 km
~ 7,500,000,000 mi
Positions at 17:00 UT, 1/23/04
Contents of the Solar System
Planets
Mercury (y)
Venus (v)
Earth ()
Mars (m)
Jupiter (j)
Saturn (t)
Uranus (U or u)
Neptune (n)
Pluto (P)
Sun and Planets to scale
Planet
Mosaic
Asteroids
Gaspra
Mostly
beyond
Earth’s
orbit
Ida & Dactyl
An asteroid with a moon!
Asteroids
Come close to Earth
Can hit Earth
Asteroid Impacts
Cause of mass extinctions?
Chicxulub Impact
Demise of the dinosaurs?
Mapped by gravitational anomalies
On Edge of Yucatan Peninsula
Earth c. 65
million BCE
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/Chicxulub/Chicx_title.html
Comet Halley from ESA’s
Giotto, 1986
Comets: Dirty
Snowballs
Comet Explorer, c. 2025
Comet Hale-Bopp & N. American Nebula
3/97 Col Drusciè Observatory, Cortina d'Ampezzo - Italy
Life’s History
Earth is 4.5 by old
Now
Then
Earliest life
3.5 by ago:
stromatolites
(cyanobacteria)
Life At High Temperature
Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park
Cyanobacteria …
the most ancient
life on Earth
Life In The Dark
The Deep Sea Vents
Life utilizes minerals from Earth’s interior
Life’s History
Evolution of complex life only in
last 570 million years!
Most evolution has taken
place ONLY in last 3% of the
age of the universe!
Life In The Air
Sandhill Cranes, Bosque Del Apache,
Socorro, NM
The last of the dinosaurs!
Abundance Of Life
Life survives in every ecosystem on
Earth … even within ice and rocks!
Sulfide-digesting
bacteria on rocks
Microbe from
Antarctic Ice
Life
Everywhere
On Land
Life From
The Rocks
Shrub on the
desert pavement
Lichens:
symbiotic
associations of
algae and fungi
Trees From
The Rocks
Life On The
Trees
Given Hydrogen, Gravity & 15 Billion
Years The Universe Made
Pace
Kiva
Puppies!
Touching Earth
Whenever your feet touch Earth
you know they are touching
Where something has died
or been born.
Antler
Earth Prayers
And All Is From The Stars!
Except
the hydrogen
isstars
from
the
Giant
stars produced
Fe, Zn, which
Sun-sized
produced
Au,
Ag, Hg,
Pb, I, Ba ... after the
first
millisecond
C,Big
O, Nbang!
…
Human History
Humanoids appeared about a million
years ago …
0.04% of Earth’s age,
0.007% of Universe’s age
Human History
Written human history covers
about last 10,000 years
(since the glaciers melted)
0.0004% of Earth’s age,
0.00007% of Universe’s age
If the history of the universe were a
year, Humans would show up in the last
½ hour before midnight on December 31!
Psalm 8
When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that
you have established;
what are human beings that
you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Genesis
“God saw everything that he
had made, and indeed, it was
very good. And there was
evening and there was
morning, the sixth day.”
And we are all made of star stuff!
Caring for Earth’s Creatures
“The concern here is with the
possibility of a theology of nature,
that is, using the picture of reality
coming to us from postmodern science
as a way to reimagine the relationship
between God and the world…
Caring for Earth’s Creatures
“…to consider ourselves as inspirited
bodies, profoundly interrelated with
all other such bodies and yet having
the distinction of shared
responsibility with God for the well
being of our planet.”
Sally McFague
The Body of God
God and the Universe
“Matter and spirit: these
were no longer two
things, but two states of
one and the same cosmic
stuff.”
Teilhard de Chardin