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	<title>Comments on: Water Older Than the Sun . . .</title>
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	<link>https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/10/03/water-older-than-the-sun/</link>
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		<title>By: bowser</title>
		<link>https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/10/03/water-older-than-the-sun/#comment-31956</link>
		<dc:creator>bowser</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Oct 2014 23:52:03 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>I&#039;m just tickled pink that people can figure this out.  Thanks for the post.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m just tickled pink that people can figure this out.  Thanks for the post.</p>
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		<title>By: ER</title>
		<link>https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/10/03/water-older-than-the-sun/#comment-31949</link>
		<dc:creator>ER</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:15:37 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>All the elements in the sun, except helium, were from the original solar nebula, and came from earlier generations of stars.  The sun will eventually start creating its own heavy elements as fusion products, but it will be in the future, after the easily fusionable hydrogen in the core is used up.  Also, the sun, nor any other star, cannot create any elements heavier than iron.  Trans-iron nuclei are only created in supernova explosions in massive stars.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>All the elements in the sun, except helium, were from the original solar nebula, and came from earlier generations of stars.  The sun will eventually start creating its own heavy elements as fusion products, but it will be in the future, after the easily fusionable hydrogen in the core is used up.  Also, the sun, nor any other star, cannot create any elements heavier than iron.  Trans-iron nuclei are only created in supernova explosions in massive stars.</p>
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		<title>By: DanS</title>
		<link>https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/10/03/water-older-than-the-sun/#comment-31948</link>
		<dc:creator>DanS</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2014 18:07:58 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>Something from my high school classes:

Our sun is not large enough to have produced &lt;font color=&quot;#FFD700&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gold&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/font&gt;.  The deposits found on Earth are apparently from a supernova event just prior to or even during the formation of the Solar System.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Something from my high school classes:</p>
<p>Our sun is not large enough to have produced <font color="#FFD700"><strong>gold</strong></font>.  The deposits found on Earth are apparently from a supernova event just prior to or even during the formation of the Solar System.</p>
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		<title>By: ER</title>
		<link>https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/10/03/water-older-than-the-sun/#comment-31947</link>
		<dc:creator>ER</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:02:13 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules#Diatomic_.2843.29

Over two hundred chemical compounds (many of them organic) have been detected so far in interstellar and circumstellar space.  No doubt this is only a partial list.  In spite of the harsh temperature, radiation, and vacuum environment, the dust and gas clouds (AKA &quot;molecular clouds&quot;) where stars form are an active site for the formation of complex molecules.  

Of course, the stars themselves are too hot for anything but solitary atoms to exist (and they are ionized), but the outer reaches of stellar atmospheres and the mineral grains and dusty particulates in these clouds support an active chemistry.  Tiny but numerous carbon and silica grains and even Bucky Balls provide, through their vast numbers, an immense surface area where atoms, free radicals and ions can accumulate and be catalyzed into complex compounds.

This is why there is so much interest in examining cometary material and ices which are pristine materials left over from the earliest history of the solar system. This is really primordial stuff.

By the time the early protoplanets cooled off they were already being bombarded by meteorites and comets saturated with complex molecules, many of them recognized precursors for biochemistry.  If there is the slightest chance for life to get started, it will.  All the preliminary ingredients are already there.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules#Diatomic_.2843.29" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules#Diatomic_.2843.29</a></p>
<p>Over two hundred chemical compounds (many of them organic) have been detected so far in interstellar and circumstellar space.  No doubt this is only a partial list.  In spite of the harsh temperature, radiation, and vacuum environment, the dust and gas clouds (AKA &#8220;molecular clouds&#8221;) where stars form are an active site for the formation of complex molecules.  </p>
<p>Of course, the stars themselves are too hot for anything but solitary atoms to exist (and they are ionized), but the outer reaches of stellar atmospheres and the mineral grains and dusty particulates in these clouds support an active chemistry.  Tiny but numerous carbon and silica grains and even Bucky Balls provide, through their vast numbers, an immense surface area where atoms, free radicals and ions can accumulate and be catalyzed into complex compounds.</p>
<p>This is why there is so much interest in examining cometary material and ices which are pristine materials left over from the earliest history of the solar system. This is really primordial stuff.</p>
<p>By the time the early protoplanets cooled off they were already being bombarded by meteorites and comets saturated with complex molecules, many of them recognized precursors for biochemistry.  If there is the slightest chance for life to get started, it will.  All the preliminary ingredients are already there.</p>
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