<p>All of the stuff that isn't hydrogen and helium (which came from the Big Bang), that coalesced to form our solar system (the iron, the sulfur, the water, and so forth) all came from previous generations of stars that went supernova, merging neutron stars, etc. All that material collected together and formed our solar system...</p>

<p>From roughly how many stars did that material come from? Is there any way to know?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-17T03:29:59.923Z
See Rob's answer in particular, where he discusses the difficulties in determining how many stars contributed, but ultimately posits it's on the order of billions.
zibadawa timmy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-17T19:20:46.163Z
As far I know, there were 3 supernovas were found by isotope ratio analysis of the interplanetar samples. They were the main contributors of the initial gas cloud formed the solar system.
peterh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-18T06:38:32.000Z
@Peterh So you are saying that the metallicity of the gas cloud the Sun was born from was zero prior to those three supernovae? Which paper is this in? AFAIK a supernova or supernovae seeded the protosolar system at about the time the Sun formed, but the metallicity of the ISM was largely fixed prior to that.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-18T07:26:48.280Z
@RobJeffries A post-doc teacher said it in $\approx$ in 2005 on a lecture. But it was an informal part of it, and not astronomy was his field (afaik he is some QM guru). He talked about the supernovas, which created the initial gas cloud. No, the initial metallicity is coming from these supernovas (+ from the interstellar gas already there).
peterh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-18T08:58:31.757Z
@peterh So basically, it is an unhelpful comment. The metal atoms in the Sun come from hundreds of millions if not a billion previous stars.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-18T09:52:24.913Z
@RobJeffries Right, Sun probably has at least a single atom from a large part of the stars ever existed in our galaxy; the interesting part of the question would be, from how many stars is coming their majority. I think I can find some trustable reference from this info also by google.
peterh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-18T14:09:40.793Z
Thanks all for the comments. I searched but did not find the answer before I posted the question. The referenced post does indeed answer my question. Thanks!
Pete
<stellar-evolution><star-formation>
How many parent stars contributed to our solar system?
Pete
# How many parent stars contributed to our solar system?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-17)

All of the stuff that isn't hydrogen and helium (which came from the Big Bang), that coalesced to form our solar system (the iron, the sulfur, the water, and so forth) all came from previous generations of stars that went supernova, merging neutron stars, etc. All that material collected together and formed our solar system...

From roughly how many stars did that material come from? Is there any way to know?

**Tags:** stellar-evolution, star-formation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See Rob's answer in particular, where he discusses the difficulties in determining how many stars contributed, but ultimately posits it's on the order of billions.  
> **username_2**: As far I know, there were 3 supernovas were found by isotope ratio analysis of the interplanetar samples. They were the main contributors of the initial gas cloud formed the solar system.  
> **username_3**: @username_0rh So you are saying that the metallicity of the gas cloud the Sun was born from was zero prior to those three supernovae? Which paper is this in? AFAIK a supernova or supernovae seeded the protosolar system at about the time the Sun formed, but the metallicity of the ISM was largely fixed prior to that.  
> **username_2**: @RobJeffries A post-doc teacher said it in $\approx$ in 2005 on a lecture. But it was an informal part of it, and not astronomy was his field (afaik he is some QM guru). He talked about the supernovas, which created the initial gas cloud. No, the initial metallicity is coming from these supernovas (+ from the interstellar gas already there).  
> **username_3**: @username_2 So basically, it is an unhelpful comment. The metal atoms in the Sun come from hundreds of millions if not a billion previous stars.  
> **username_2**: @RobJeffries Right, Sun probably has at least a single atom from a large part of the stars ever existed in our galaxy; the interesting part of the question would be, from how many stars is coming their majority. I think I can find some trustable reference from this info also by google.  
> **username_0**: Thanks all for the comments. I searched but did not find the answer before I posted the question. The referenced post does indeed answer my question. Thanks!  

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## 0 answers

