Decades-Old Belief About Stars and Life’s Ingredients Overturned by New Astronomical Evidence
For decades, astronomers believed they had a fairly solid understanding of how the Stellar Life Ingredients—carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and complex organic molecules—were spread across the galaxy. According to the long-standing theory, massive stars forged these elements in their cores and dispersed them primarily through violent supernova explosions at the end of their lives. These cataclysmic…