That's how much potential planetary material astronomers have discovered in the dusty remnants of supernova Cassiopeia A, about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation of the same name. This composite image, taken in infrared light by the Spitzer Space Telescope and released on 20 December, reveals for the first time the materials (in red) needed to form a new planetary system--including silicon, iron, carbon, and aluminum. The find clinches the long-standing but unproven idea that the explosions of supermassive stars throughout the eons have forged the heavier elements needed for rocky bodies--and human beings--that were missing from the universe as products of the big bang nearly 14 billion years ago.
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