Introduction to Theoretical Chronics of our Starstuff

"We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff,” .- Carl Sagan

Five billion years ago there was a cloud of dust and gas in a void, something, an explosion, prepared the gala. The song that played was by solar nebula. Everything began to dance in steps in a circle, going round and round as they tighten. The energetic center began to pull the dancers.

Some of the lonesome dancers backed away growing colder at each step. The residue lonesome particles began to band by their gravity. The rhythm of the bands forming and clashing made its own symphony. The chaotic planetesimals, they said they were. They were made of hydrogen and helium polluted with a pinch of soot and cosmic dust ejected from dying stars. The agitation lasted for millions of years until out of the calamity, order arouse. The Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroid belt, Jupiter, Trojan asteroids, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Kuiper belt , until the Oort cloud. The solar system was exquisitely made.

To the newly formed sun, everything else seemed like dust that could easily be swept away. The sun is almost a hundred percent of the solar system’s mass. On the midst of the dust there was a boiling rocky planet with a temperature of over one thousand degrees Celsius. It had recently gain a satellite with many theories of how it came about. Most say a giant impactor the size of Mars collided with it and the debris captured by the planets gravity clashed into each other. The way a ball of snow captures more snow as it rolls down the hill. The rocky planet as it cooled, suddenly out in the distance meteors could be seen as if attacking enemies had discovered a catapult. At the time it seemed doomed. The planet in despair had no idea the gold that was about to behold. The meteor showers brought the ingredients to create… you.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies, were made in the interiors of collapsing stars.”.- Carl Sagan

Credit: NASA / Jenny Mottar

Fossil evidence has allowed us to determine that the origin of life happened four billion years ago in the ponds and oceans. Ponds and oceans made of water that may have traveled millions of kilometers to reach earth carried by meteoroids. Other meteoroids brought minerals, carbon, primitive protein and amino acids that dissolved in the water. The chemicals on the ocean somehow made the first living things, the “simple” one-celled organisms.

This “simple” one-celled organisms arbitrarily recombined into more and more complex molecules because of lightning and ultraviolet light from the sun. By chance, a hydrogen-rich molecule was able to make crude copies of itself by gathering other molecules. Three billion years ago, where mutations were common, perhaps a single-celled organism wasn't able to separate creating the first multicellular organism. Multicellular organisms are cells that work together for the common good, only the exemplary order, can make the organism survive. And the evolution’s domino effect began.

This planet was placed at the quintessential orbit as it is the only planet were the three states of matter of water abundantly exists, solid, liquid and gas. The soup of organisms had the environment to be nourished so they flourished. Everything about you was delicately made, every inch from inside and outside of you. The sun you bathe in that travels ninety-three million miles, that takes the energy to travel from the sun’s core a hundred thousand years to reach the surface. The billions of years your ancestors had to evolve so you can have the tools to survive. The star dust inside of you. You are improbable, impossible, and yet you’re still here.

References

Dunbar, Brian. "NASA Identifies Carbon-rich Molecules in Meteors as the 'Origin of Life'."NASA. NASA, 26 Sept. 2008. Web. 28 July 2017. <https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/2008/Origins_of_life_research.html>.

MYERS, J.D. "Where Did the Moon Come From?" NASA. NASA, Oct. 2001. Web. 28 July 2017. <https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question38.html>.

Sagan, C., Druyan, A., Soter, S., Malone, A., Weidlinger, T., Haines-Stiles, G., Kennard, D., ... Polytel International. (2000). Cosmos: A personal voyage. Studio City, CA: Cosmos Studios.

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