Astrophysicists discover new insights from a rare supernova that gave us the calcium in our bones - Salon

On Wednesday, a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal surfaced new, direct insights into the true nature of the rare events that are thought to produce half of the calcium in our universe, including the calcium in our very own human bodies: calcium-rich supernovae.

Wynn Jacobson-Galan, a first-year Northwestern graduate student who led the study, explained to Salon that SN 2019ehk is just one of the "calcium-rich supernovae that is responsible for contributing to that universal calcium fraction (~50%).".

"Calcium-rich supernovae in general are thought to produce half of the calcium in our universe,"  Jacobson-Galan said in an email.

"They are rare, relative to other types of stellar explosions, but actually these supernovae occur all over the universe.".

Jacobson-Galan said, "Calcium-rich supernovae (as well as stellar explosions in general) are powerful enough to create luminosity, which is comparable to their host galaxies i.e., they outshine their galaxies." This is partly how such an explosion can travel through galaxies and be part of creating life here on Earth.

"So with such a powerful explosion capable of releasing so much energy, the supernovae can eject calcium at tremendous speeds (comparable to the speed of light) out into space, and over time the calcium will be recycled into creating new stars, planets, et cetera," Jacobson-Galan said.

"Also, multiple calcium-rich supernovae can occur in the same galaxy, so over a long time, with enough explosions happening, the galaxy can become abundant with calcium that can then be used to create stars, et cetera.

"We had no idea that this type of stellar explosion was capable of producing high energy emission such as X-rays so this was a 'game changing' result in terms of studying the origins of these unique explosions," Jacobson-Galan said.