Explained: How stars provided the carbon that makes life possible – The Indian Express

Written by Kabir Firaque
, Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi |
Updated: July 10, 2020 6:49:00 pm
The new research analysed white dwarfs in this star cluster. Called NGC 7789, it is about 8,000 light-years away. It is also called Carolines Rose, after the astronomer Caroline Lucretia Herschel who discovered it in the late 18th century. (Credit: Guillaume Seigneuret via NASA)Carbon is essential for life: It is the simple building block of all the complex organic molecules that organisms need. It is known that all the carbon in the Milky Way came from dying stars that ejected the element into their surroundings. What has remained debated, however, is what kind of stars made the major contribution.
Now, a study has provided new insights on the origins of the carbon in our galaxy. Published in Nature Astronomy by an international team of researchers, the study is an analysis of white dwarfs the dense remnants of a star after its death.
How does carbon come from stars?
Most stars except the most massive ones are doomed to turn into white dwarfs. When the massive ones die, they go with a spectacular bang known as the supernova. Both low-mass and massive stars eject their ashes into the surroundings before they end their lives. And these ashes contain many different chemical elements, including carbon.
Both in low-mass stars and in massive stars carbon is synthesised in their deep and hot interiors through the triple-alpha reaction, that is the fusion of three helium nuclei, the studys lead author, Paola Marigo of the University of Padua in Italy, told The Indian Express, by email.
In low-mass stars the newly synthesised carbon is transported to the surface

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