posted on Nov, 12 2007 @ 06:54 PM
It's absolutely correct that these elements were formed during supernova explosions. Now, where that supernova was, is a pretty great question. It's
one that I doubt anyone could answer, but we can hypothesize about it until we're all blue in the face.
If anything, the gasses that eventually coalesced into our Solar System came from many different supernova explosions. A few of them spaced out over
time would send gasses out in every which direction, forming a larger molecular cloud. Eventually the gasses would have collected into a field of
cold, interstellar gasses over 10K AU in diameter, and begin to compress under its own meager gravity. The collapse, by most modern hypotheses, would
have been caused by the pressure wave from yet another supernova explosion. Now, keep in mind, the majority of these gasses would have been H an He
left over from the Big Bang, with only about 2% of the gasses been created in nucleosynthesis.
Anyway, I'm venturing down the path of explaining the nebular hypothesis of the Solar System's formation... The supernova could have been just about
anywhere in our nearby, or even not-too-distant, neighborhood of stars. Since it was billions of years ago that it would have had to of occurred, the
remnants of the supernova(s) and whatnot are long since gone.
The original Solar System would probably have been a pretty barren one. The first stars in our universe were Giants and Supergiants, burning all of
their fuel out rapidly and expelling their innards out through novas. There wouldn't have been very much in the way of heavier elements, so planets,
both of the Terrestrial and Jovian variety, would have been scarce. Because of the limited number of planets and the even limited number of heavier
molecules, I would doubt that life could have existed at all.
You did pose the excellent question of, "Is it also possible that the building blocks of life also came from that system?" My answer would be
absolutely, in most regards. The building blocks of life are most commonly regarded to be amino acids. These acids, of which 20 or so are fairly
common, are made up primarily of H, C, N, and O. All of those chemicals are the basis for all life as we know it, and could have been forged nowhere
else than in the hearts of stars. This does take me to my next point, though...
The Oort Cloud is a pretty rockin' place. It's full of comets and other smaller vagabonds of not only our Solar System, but certainly some portion
of it has come from other stars. Not all comets are periodic, meaning they don't all orbit the Sun. Some simply slingshot around Sol and escape out
at another angle. Surely this same process has happened around other stars and some cometary material has made its way to our Solar System. The neat
thing about that? Well, it's confirmed that amino acids are found in comets. So, these building blocks of life could very well hop from system to
system.