C ...

White dwarf stars are a primary source for one of the building blocks of life.
NASA and H. Richer (University of British Columbia)

We are made of stars, or more accurately, the remnants of stars as nature recycles everything but we already knew that. right? Now, scientists know the prime source of Carbon, the most versatile element in the universe and ... when our sun dies, it may become part of the carbon-producing entity known as white dwarfs ... 5 billion years from now.

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, suggests that WHITE DWARF STARS are the main source of carbon atoms in the Milky Way, a chemical element known to be crucial to all life.

White dwarfs are hot, dense stellar remains with temperatures that reach 100,000 Kelvin. Over time, billions of years, these stars cool and eventually dim as they shed their outer material. However, right before they collapse, their remains are transported through space by winds that originate from their bodies.

These stellar ashes contain chemical elements such as carbon.

Carbon is the fourth most abundant chemical in the universe and is a key element in the formation of life as it is the basic building block to most cells.

Addendum ...

An artist’s impression of a pair of orbiting white dwarfs, ZTF J153932.16+502738.8. 

Image credit: Caltech / IPAC.

The analysis of white dwarfs observed by the team gave a surprising result: the masses of these stars were notably larger than expected, putting a ‘kink’ in the initial-final mass relation for stars with initial masses in a certain range.

“Our study interprets this kink in the initial-final mass relationship as the signature of the synthesis of carbon made by low-mass stars in the Milky Way,” Dr. Marigo said.

In the last phases of their lives, stars twice as massive as our Sun produced new carbon atoms in their hot interiors, transported them to the surface, and finally spread them into the interstellar medium through gentle stellar winds.

The team’s detailed stellar models indicate that the stripping of the carbon-rich outer mantle occurred slowly enough to allow the central cores of these stars, the future white dwarfs, to grow appreciably in mass.

Analyzing the initial-final mass relation around the kink, the researchers concluded that stars bigger than 2 solar masses also contributed to the Galactic enrichment of carbon, while stars of less than 1.5 solar masses did not.

In other words, the mass of 1.5 solar masses is the minimum mass for a star to spread carbon-enriched material.

Sol might not make after all. 

Dave lives ...