Supernovas & Other Big Bangs: Where Your Body Comes From
“Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
—Carl Sagan, Cosmos
That Carl Sagan quote is among one of his most famous sayings, and for good reason: it expresses a joy, a connection between us and the cosmos that gives his famous television series its title. It’s (dare I say) a fact so romantic that Neil DeGrasse Tyson called it the most astounding piece of knowledge he would share about the universe.
It’s a stirring thought: nearly every atom of our bodies passed through a star, and many were forged by stars as well. That’s also true. Our galaxy contains billions of planets, , and it’s a near-certainty that the Milky Way isn’t unique in that regard. Each one of those planets, whether life-bearing or not, is made of star stuff. It’s even more amazing when you consider that much of the “normal” stuff of Earthly life—carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron, calcium, sulfur, and so forth—comprises about 1% of all atoms in the universe.
