NAI Team: Journey with the Time Machine
One day, Adrian passes through the asteroid belt with his train to see his two cousins, 98 Ianthe and 431 Nephele.
Adrian: Today, we will go with the Time Machine to take a trip through time. No, not with the Space Ship that travels in space, but with the Time Machine, which travels through time.
98 Ianthe: From what I know, it’s like the DVD player.
431 Nephele: The only thing we can’t do is go backward and see, for example, our own birth. Or it’s not natural to meet our parents when they were children.
Adrian: You’re absolutely right, girls. In nature, the flow of time has only one direction. Tell me, have you ever seen, as time goes by, an old man becoming a child again, and eventually entering his mother’s womb?
98 Ianthe: The magical word we learned in school is called entropy.
431 Nephele: So we can’t go see the dinosaurs, which I would really like to do.
“And we would like it too!” they all shout together with one voice.
Adrian: Strap yourselves in. We will go and sit near a point in the universe where new stars are being born. We will watch their entire lives in fast forward. In the end, we will witness their spectacular deaths as they become beautiful supernova explosions. We will then say a big thank you to the stars that die! Let’s begin…
One of the most famous photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA/ESA).
The photograph shows a small region of the Galaxy where stars are born within dense clouds of gas.
The NAI team placed the Time Machine next to a very famous nebula of the Galaxy. This region of the Galaxy is 65,000,000,000,000,000,000 meters away from Earth and is called “The Gates of Creation.” Many stars have already begun to form there within the clouds.
Adrian: Is it nice to sit here? We can see very well what’s happening around us from the windows of our Time Machine.
After a while, a vortex began to form in the interstellar gas.
98 Ianthe: (excitedly) Look, everyone! It’s like the whirlpool we see when the bathtub drains after our bath.
Many such vortices appeared all around.
Adrian: New stars are being formed this way. It’s gravity that brings all the atoms of interstellar hydrogen together.
431 Nephele: Many new stars have been formed around us. They are beautiful.
The next short film shows what the three cousins were seeing from the windows of the Time Machine.
431 Nephele: How long do stars live?
Adrian: It depends on how big they are. If they are small like the Sun, they can live for over 1,000,000,000 years.
98 Ianthe: Where can we find such a big cake to put candles for their birthdays?
431 Nephele: And are we going to wait all those hours for them to become supernovae?
Adrian: Not all of them will. Only the big ones. I will put it on fast forward to make everything happen quickly in time. Hold on…
Stars, apart from their birth and death, undergo a very mundane life by converting their hydrogen into other elements. The largest of them end their lives with a very impressive (and beneficial) explosion. Through this explosion, all the heavy elements that have been synthesized inside the stars during their “boring” period of life are released into the interstellar space. These elements include carbon (C), gold (Au), sodium (Na), chlorine (Cl), and others. Salt (NaCl) is also formed from sodium and chlorine. Salt is something we have on our table every day and consume.
PURPLE: Big Bang / GREEN: Massive stars / ORANGE: Supernovae
BLUE: Cosmic rays / GOLD: Small stars / PINK: Human-made structures
98 Ianthe: Adrian, why do you think your blood is red?
431 Nephele: Because it contains, among other elements, a mixture of iron (Fe) and oxygen (O). And both are made inside stars!
98 Ianthe: Where do you think the calcium (Ca) in our bones and teeth comes from?
Adrian: And is that made inside stars too? Really?
431 Nephele: We are made of stardust, as I’ve heard people say.
Well-known remnants of supernovae are Cassiopeia A and the remnant of Kepler’s supernova. Both are located within the Galaxy and have been studied by many telescopes. Kepler’s supernova exploded in 1604 and was so bright that everyone thought a new star had appeared in the sky.
98 Ianthe: Now I understand, Adrian, why you said we will thank the stars that die!
431 Nephele: With their death, they give us all these precious elements for life.
Adrian: Exactly, girls. There are so many stars in the sky that it’s very difficult to say a big thank you to each one! Unfortunately or fortunately, the Sun doesn’t have the required mass to become a supernova. Stay calm. We won’t have terrifying explosions in our solar system.
98 Ianthe: Now we can sleep peacefully, 431 Nephele, knowing that the Sun won’t explode.
431 Nephele: Did you understand, 98 Ianthe? You, me, Adrian, everyone and everything are made exactly from the same materials!
Adrian: Most of these materials are made inside stars!
98 Ianthe: I understand, 431 Nephele. It’s so beautiful to know that we are all like you and me, made of the same materials.
431 Nephele: We have the same parents.
Adrian: I think it’s time for each of us to go to bed and sleep. I had a wonderful day today.
431 Nephele: Goodnight everyone. We learned so many things. Thank you, Adrian.