When: Wednesday 7th September at 7:30 pm.
Where: Space Place / Carter Observatory and also available via Zoom. Join the Zoom Meeting
at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89857934315?pwd=V1YzV2tFUml4SEFQOUJLUVUwWSt2QT09
Meeting ID: 898 5793 4315
Passcode: 12345
What: We are all made of stardust but gold, silver and platinum are neutron stardust – Jan Eldridge

All elements other than hydrogen and helium are made in stars. Each element is produced within different stellar death throes. I’ll describe how stars make these elements and expel them into the interstellar medium to pollute the next generation of stars. I’ll also describe how some elements, including those important for life, are only made in binary stars. Highlighting how the recent detection in gravitational waves of two colliding neutron star provide firm evidence for how precious elements are made by binary stars. Finally, I’ll show the evidence for the different ways of making elements by showing evidence of how observed abundances have changed over cosmic history

Jan is Associate Professor at University of Auckland, Department of Physics. Her research is focused upon the lives and deaths of stars.