Almost all the elements in your body and on the Earth except for Hydrogen and Helium come from stars . Some are generated by stars by nuclear fusion , releasing the light that makes them shine in the process. Other, heavier elements are created in the powerful throes of an exploding star, or supernova explosion and hurled into space. When a star explodes, it releases a tremendous amount of energy and can shine more brightly than an entire galaxy .
Supernova explosions come in two different types , depending on the mass of the stars that exploded.
Type II SNe are the result of the gravitational collapse of massive stars. Type I SNe arise from runaway nuclear fusion on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary orbit . The explosive force blasts the stellar material out into space. As the remnant expands, the stellar material and the ISM mix. All of the naturally occurring heavy elements we observe were distributed by SNes and many heavy elements are only created in the extreme conditions of a supernova explosion.