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Interesting article. I read that maybe last week. The thing about the conclusion re heavy elements is that we need to treat single observations and research 'findings' with a bit of caution when they seem to go against established theories. Quite often pretty dramatic and unexpected findings turn out to be more about bad measurements and mistaken calculations. Not always of course, but often. I remember a right load of excitement about thirty some years ago when a team announced that they had successfully created cold fusion energy. It seemed like we had discovered a way to make infinite , clean, free energy - we hadn't. This stuff happens quite often - hence my urge to caution.Brightest-ever cosmic explosion solved but new mysteries sparked
The brightest burst of light ever recorded was caused by a supernova, but that prompts new questions.www.bbc.co.uk
As an aside - we are REALLY REALLY lucky that we can take the light from an event like an exploding star or just any old star and put it through a prism and see the absorption lines on the spectrum which show where different elements have absorbed the light. We get a sort of DNA profile of what the star is made of and how much of each element it has in it. It is a fantastic stroke of luck to be able to point a telescope at a star and read the stripes in the spectrum and can know what it is made of. I mean - how lucky is that?
For example - the sun is 70% hydrogen by mass, and 27% helium with 3% 65 other elements.