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You are here: Science» Science Goals» Life Circles of Matter and Energy» Origin and Dispersion of Elements» Continued
Origin and Dispersion of Elements – continuedWhen and how were the elements created and dispersed? «The distribution of metal abundances in the Milky Way, including both the gas and dust components, will be mapped using absorption line measurements along hundreds of lines of sight. On smaller scales, emission from gaseous remnants of supernovae seen with IXO will offer a comprehensive three-dimensional view of the ejecta composition and velocity structure, allowing detailed studies of nucleosynthesis models for individual explosions. 
IXO high-resolution X-ray spectra (blue) show the metal-enriched hot gas out flowing from a starburst galaxy, a part of the feedback process irresolvable with current X-ray CCD data (magenta). Credit: David Strickland (unpublished). Click the image for a larger view. For more information, refer to IXO Astro 2010 Decadal White Papers: |
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