Supernovas, immense explosions that occur when some stars run out of fuel, produce giant nebulas, clouds of glowing dust that remain visible for thousands of years afterwards. Heavy elements, from carbon, the life-giving element six on the periodic table through uranium, element 92, are made only in the furious burst of fusion that precedes a supernova. The entire solar system, in fact, is part of a generation of objects assembled from dust and gas left by a previous generation of exploding stars. Sanders, who plans to use Chandra to study supernova remnants, says the superheated gas and dust could offer data on the past, and clues to the fate of the current generation of stars and planets. One thing's for sure.
Neutron stars are almost as strange as dark matter . .