LEADER 04102nam 22005535 450 001 9910908371303321 005 20241120115550.0 010 $a9783031672750$b(electronic bk.) 010 $z9783031672743 024 7 $a10.1007/978-3-031-67275-0 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC31788000 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL31788000 035 $a(OCoLC)1472981566 035 $a(CKB)36649984000041 035 $a(DE-He213)978-3-031-67275-0 035 $a(EXLCZ)9936649984000041 100 $a20241120d2024 u| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aWe Are Stardust $eStellar Evolution and Our Cosmic Connection /$fby Robert Fleck 205 $a1st ed. 2024. 210 1$aCham :$cSpringer Nature Switzerland :$cImprint: Springer,$d2024. 215 $a1 online resource (189 pages) 311 08$aPrint version: Fleck, Robert We Are Stardust Cham : Springer,c2024 9783031672743 327 $aIntroduction -- In the Beginning -- Stellar Evolution: The Life Cycle of Stars -- From Dust to Us: Our Cosmic Connection -- Final Thoughts. 330 $aThis concise and accessible book explains one of the most profound and inspiring discoveries ever made, namely, the fact that we ourselves?and all we see around us?are a natural product of the workings and wonders of the Universe, tied directly to distant events spread across space and time reaching back to the beginning, back to the Big Bang, and continuing through the birth and death of successive generations of stars. Modern science has shown that, in a very real and profound way, we are intimately connected to the Cosmos: we are, as Joni Mitchell tells us in her song Woodstock, stardust?in a very real sense, children of the stars?star folk made from chemical elements (?starstuff?) cooked by nuclear reactions in stellar furnaces throughout the various stages of stellar evolution. Life as we know it is an inevitable consequence of the life cycle of the stars. Our story begins at the beginning with the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago when, during the first three minutes in the history of the Universe, all of the hydrogen and most of the helium, by far the most abundant elements in the Universe, formed from a cooling plasma of protons, neutrons, and electrons. We then trace the life cycles of the stars from birth to death highlighting the synthesis in the stars of the heavier chemical elements so essential to life, along the way touching on many of the hot topics in astrophysics today including exoplanets, supernovae, pulsars, black holes, white dwarfs, and, since these conditions are found throughout the Galaxy, life in the Universe. The reader, awed by the power and beauty of this cosmic perspective, will leave with a better understanding and appreciation of our true cosmic connection. Surprisingly, despite its significance, this fascinating story of our connection to the stars has largely gone unnoticed outside a small circle of scientists. Understanding that the stuff we are made of traces its origin to nuclear processes accompanying the Big Bang, and thereafter to billions of years of the birth and death of generation after generation of stars, is an important and beautiful story that deserves more attention. Intended for a broad audience, this book provides inspiring reading for all students and afficionados of science. 606 $aAstronomy 606 $aCosmochemistry 606 $aNuclear physics 606 $aAstronomy, Cosmology and Space Sciences 606 $aAstrochemistry 606 $aNuclear and Particle Physics 615 0$aAstronomy. 615 0$aCosmochemistry. 615 0$aNuclear physics. 615 14$aAstronomy, Cosmology and Space Sciences. 615 24$aAstrochemistry. 615 24$aNuclear and Particle Physics. 676 $a523.1 700 $aFleck$b Robert$01430253 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 912 $a9910908371303321 996 $aWe Are Stardust$94289943 997 $aUNINA