Yes, we could be space travelers.

A study proved that Humans are made of stardust. A theory, which used to go like this — Humans and the galaxies in the universe share 97% of atoms that is responsible and vital for life. Now, the theory is no longer just a theory — it has been proved.

The fundamental elements for life on Earth — called the building blocks are Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulfur. These six elements are the basic requirements for life anywhere. And a while back, scientists had proved it by measuring the wavelengths of light — using spectroscopy — from the stars located at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

However, the story and the research did not end there.

For a second time, new research says that the stardust that make up our body could not only be from our ( Milky Way) galaxy but could be from stars elsewhere — which makes us (partial) extragalactic immigrants! We could call ourselves “Space Travelers”.

Who and how?

Discovered by Northwestern University astrophysicists, used advanced computer simulations of the big bang/birth of the galaxies to conclude a theory — the matter from our very own galaxy itself could have come from distant galaxies through powerful galactic winds or any other way during a mass explosive events like supernova. Thus the new term “Intergalactic Transfer” has surfaced — a phenomenon which could lead us in understanding the evolution of the galaxies.

“Given how much of the matter out of which we formed may have come from other galaxies, we could consider ourselves space travelers or extragalactic immigrants,” said Daniel Anglés-Alcázar, a postdoctoral fellow in Northwestern’s astrophysics center, CIERA (Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics), who led the study. “It is likely that much of the Milky Way’s matter was in other galaxies before it was kicked out by a powerful wind, traveled across intergalactic space and eventually found its new home in the Milky Way.”

Galaxies were thought to have formed from the hot gas filling in the universe soon after the big bang — which marked the birth of the cosmos. Though, this newly identified phenomenon has given innovation to a new theory that the one half of the atoms around us — universally — came not from our galaxy but from other galaxies that are located up to one million light years away.

The full study was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK. The next step for the researchers is to collaborate with observational astronomers working with the Hubble Space Telescope and Earth-based observatories to test the simulations’ predictions.

Wow! It makes you question everything around you, doesn’t it? Let’s wait and see what other surprises are waiting for us!

Source: space.com, forbes, rt.com