Aug 4, 2023
A Gator gives a lecture on nucleosynthesis.
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A Gator gives a lecture on nucleosynthesis.
A strange star in the Milky Way bares the signature of a unique explosion of a giant star that once existed billions of years ago in the era
A strange star in the Milky Way bares the signature of a unique explosion of a giant star that once existed billions of years ago in the era of the cosmic dawn. The chemical composition of the extant star known as J0931+0038 is so weird that it can only be made up of the leftovers of a huge star, one at least 50 times the mass of the Sun, that created the elements before it went supernova.
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Geoffrey Burbidge – Scientist of the Day
Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge, an English/American astronomer and astrophysicist, was born Sep. 24, 1925, in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire...
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@gwynweekofficial
DAY 4: ADVENTURE
As Gwyn continues her profound healing journey, envisioning her future becomes a canvas of endless possibilities. What masterpiece do you paint for Gwyn? Can you see her embarking on new adventures? Maybe some romance?
Calling Nucleosynthesis a "masterpiece" might be a stretch, but I am envisioning a bright future for Gwyn, filled with happiness, love, and... job satisfaction, I guess?
I've already talked at length about this on my profile, so, if you're curious, follow this link (or search the tag #nucleosynthesis) to see all the content I've put out on my blog about this upcoming Gwynriel fic.
Featuring:
Gwyn being in control of her love life and her sex life 🤭
Azriel having eyes and ears all over the world and yet being oblivious as hell to Gwyn's feelings for him 🙈
Gwynriel going from friends to lovers 🫂
Rhysand doing one of the few good things he's ever done and getting Gwyn a job 💪
The Dawn Court serving looks and being a STEM paradise 🪷
And now, join me in my prayer that I might be able to write it before another leap year passes by 🙏
How Scientists Use Hydrogen Gas, In Space And On Earth, To Measure The Big Bang
“When it comes to the Universe, simply starting from the known laws of physics and extrapolating back from our direct observations can get us extremely far. Start with redshifts and distances of galaxies, and General Relativity will give you the expanding Universe. Start with the expanding Universe, and the Cosmic Microwave Background can give you the Big Bang. Start with the Big Bang, and the nuclear physics of the light elements will give you the total amount of normal matter in the Universe. And take the normal matter and our astrophysical observations of how galaxies cluster and merge, and you get a Universe requiring dark matter.
If we confidently want to know what the Universe is made of, we have to ensure we test it in every way plausible. Although it was one of the earliest predictions to arise from the hot Big Bang scenario, the nucleosynthesis of the light elements has often been derided by portions of the community as being too imprecise to draw meaningful conclusions from. With the latest observations and experiments, it’s clear that time has passed. The Universe has only 4.7-5.0% normal matter in it, and the rest, in some form or other, is truly dark.”
Even 13.8 billion years after the Big Bang, we can reconstruct the first 3 minutes. And that includes some critical steps in the lab, too.
A star is born: Using lasers to study how star stuff is made
On a typical day at the world's biggest laser, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California, you can find scientists casually making star-like conditions using 192 high-powered lasers. Stars in the universe are formed through a process called nucleosynthesis, which fuses lighter atoms to create new heavier atomic nuclei. Natural elements found here on Earth, such as helium and aluminum, were formed through this process inside of a star not unlike our own sun.
The NIF laser beams' energy is amplified in a building equivalent to the length of three football fields and then focused onto tiny gas- or ice-filled capsules with 18 micrometer thick walls (about the thickness of a human hair) and 3mm outer diameters. The capsule is accurately placed in the center of a target chamber that has a diameter of 10 meters. It's like trying to precisely place an ant in the exact center of a school bus. When the capsules are blasted with all 192 laser beams, they implode, creating very hot and very dense star-like conditions.
Ongoing experiments at the NIF are studying one of the primary nucleosynthesis processes in the sun, the 3He-3He reaction between two helium ions, in stellar-like conditions. This reaction, shown in Figure 1, is responsible for nearly half the energy generation in our sun as it burns hydrogen into helium.
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Elucien + Gwynriel fanfiction
Has anyone asked me for this? No. Am I still going to do it? Hell yeah.
Since neither Daisy nor Constellations are looking like they want to write themselves, it seems fitting that I show them who's boss by making y'all aware of the latest news in this household.
Constellations was supposed to be a fun project to venture in another fandom for the first time in an almost literal decade and show my love for SJM and Nessian. But of course, since I'm me, it ended up spawning a whole-ass fanon.
At first, I thought about writing a single story and dividing it between Gwynriel and Elucien. I even had the perfect title: In the shadow of the sun. But then, the spirit of fanfiction possessed me and compelled me to split this thing into two stories, in an Empire of Storms/Tower of Dawn kind of situation.
So, we're going to have an Elucien fic, set in the Day Court, and a Gwynriel one, set in the Dawn Court, both happening within the same time span—exactly like Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, as I just said.
The exact dynamic of why these two couples end up in these Courts will be explored in the yet-unposted (and unwritten) chapters of Constellations, and I'm going to post some teasers about the how and why of this very thing, in addition to snippets about the plots of these stories themselves.
So, look out for any new posts! 👀
Gwynriel fic chapter titles
As I did for the Elucien fic, I'm emerging from my hiatus just to drop this thing and then going back into hibernation as soon as I hit post.
Nucleosynthesis
Prologue – Hydrogen
Chemical element with symbol H and atomic number 1. Stars such as the Sun are mainly composed of hydrogen in the plasma state.
Chapter 1 – Phosphorus
Chemical element with symbol P and atomic number 15. Its name, taken from Greek mythology, means ‘light-bearer’ (Latin Lucifer), referring to the ‘Morning Star’, the planet Venus.
Chapter 2 – Sodium
Chemical element with symbol Na and atomic number 11. It’s a highly reactive metal and an essential nutrient for many living beings.
Chapter 3 – Chlorine
Chemical element with symbol Cl and atomic number 17. It’s extremely reactive, strongly oxidizing, and corrosive.
Chapter 4 – Chromium
Chemical element with symbol Cr and atomic number 24. Its name is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘color’, since many chromium compounds are intensely colored.
Chapter 5 – Nitrogen
Chemical element with symbol N and atomic number 7. Its other suggested name, azote, comes from a Greek word meaning ‘no life’, suggesting its use as an asphyxiant gas.
Chapter 6 – Iron
Chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron and iron alloys have been historically used to make weapons, and their low cost and high strength often make them the materials of choice to withstand stress or transmit forces.
Interlude – Sulfur
Chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16. Hell is thought to ‘smell of sulfur’, likely due to its association with volcanic activity.
Chapter 7 – Fluorine
Chemical element with symbol F and atomic number 9. It’s extremely reactive, as it reacts with all other elements except for the light inert gases.
Chapter 8 – Lithium
Chemical element with symbol Li and atomic number 3. Lithium-based drugs are useful as a mood stabilizer and antidepressant in the treatment of various mental illnesses.
Chapter 9 – Argon
Chemical element with symbol Ar and atomic number 18. Its name is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘lazy’ or ‘inactive’, as a reference to the fact that this element undergoes almost no chemical reactions.
Chapter 10 – Cobalt
Chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Cobalt-based blue pigments have been used since antiquity.
Chapter 11 – Carbon
Chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. Its unique characteristics enable it to serve as a common element of all known life.
Chapter 12 – Oxygen
Chemical element with symbol O and atomic number 8. Many life forms require oxygen for cellular respiration, and it’s a fundamental element for combustion.
Epilogue – Helium
Chemical element with symbol He and atomic number 2, the first of the noble gases. Large amounts of new helium are created by nuclear fusion of hydrogen in stars.
Remember that Nucleosynthesis and its companion Elucien piece, Sol niger, are intricately connected.
What happens in Nucleosynthesis's prologue, interlude, and epilogue also happens in Sol niger, and these chapters share the same titles in the two stories.