# Are all asteroids the product of The Big Bang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485 "2020-10-21T11:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/21 "2020-10-22T07:53:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Are you perhaps having trouble parsing what I’m saying in that sentence? Here, I’ve highlighted the relevant bits: > > > “There’s little likelihood any **significant** amount of matter bigger than a molecule made it into our solar system from any **previous** systems.” When you say “significant” in comparison to a molecule people don’t think that means Jupiter is the next threshold. They think of a spec of dust as the next step (if that). > [@MrDibble](#): > > A current _flyby_ of an insignificant amount of mass does nothing to change that statement. We could find a _thousand_ Oumuamuas flying past every year and it would still not change that statement. Do you think this was truly a one off? It is likely such things have happened many times since our solar system was formed. Indeed, it would be remarkable if this was the first one. It is merely the first we have seen. Above people noted the Centaurs which may have come from out of the system. Above is a cite there are billions of rogue planets cruising through the galaxy. Your insistence that extra-solar things bigger than a molecule sailing through our solar system is rare is weird. Not to mention you inconsistent use of “significant”. > [@MrDibble](#): > > But apparently, _you_ think a _significant_ proportion of their mass is made of larger chunks of previous stellar generation solar systems… Yeah. We know this. We can see material in our sun that would not be there in a 1st or 2nd generation star. The only way we get all the stuff we see in our solar system is from previous stars that forged new elements and then blew up and seeded vast nebula from which our solar system formed. So yeah…most of our solar system is from a previous solar system. Probably more than one. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/22 "2020-10-22T11:30:56Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > When you say “significant” in comparison to a molecule people don’t think that means Jupiter is the next threshold. They think of a spec of dust as the next step (if that). Yes, “specs”[sic] of dust are the next step, and they’re insignificant compared to the mass of the molecular gas component. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Your insistence that extra-solar things bigger than a molecule sailing through our solar system is rare is weird. Not rare, _ **insignificant** _ in terms of the total mass of the solar system… > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So yeah…most of our solar system is from a previous solar system. Probably more than one. FFS, nobody is disputing this, least of all me. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/23 "2020-10-22T11:34:21Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > FFS, nobody is disputing this, least of all me. > [@MrDibble](#): > > But apparently, _you_ think a _significant_ proportion of their mass is made of larger chunks of previous stellar generation solar systems… Looks to me, with your italics, that you think my notion that our solar system derived from previous solar systems is wrong…and then you say you agree. I can’t keep up. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/24 "2020-10-22T11:35:49Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Looks to me, with your italics, that you think my notion that our solar system derived from previous solar systems is wrong…and then you say you agree. I can’t keep up. Did you miss the words “larger chunks” there? From your posts, it seems you think the solar system is mostly composed of an agglomeration of asteroids and rogue planets spit out by previous generations. When it’s mostly made up of molecular hydrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/25 "2020-10-22T11:37:11Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Did you miss the words “larger chunks” there? Large chunks? The WHOLE solar systems came from other solar systems. ALL of it. You said you agreed with that. What “large chunks”? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/26 "2020-10-22T11:38:36Z")
Are you confused as to what the word “large chunks” refers to? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/27 "2020-10-22T11:45:05Z")
Just in case you’re still confused - I’m saying all the material for the solar system comes from the previous generations of stars. But very little of it came _in the form of large chunks of matter_. _Not_ “only a large chunk of the matter in the solar system came from previous generations”. I didn’t use “large chunk” to mean “large proportion of”, I used it to mean “in large pieces” (“large” being subjective, of course, but _certainly_ not asteroid-sized) ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/28 "2020-10-22T11:49:34Z")
Literally every single other person gets it. I wouldn’t worry if one person cannot or chooses not to. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/29 "2020-10-22T14:22:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Are you confused as to what the word “large chunks” refers to? **Moderator Note** It’s certainly not obvious what you meant. Let’s drop the hijack. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485/30 "2020-10-22T14:53:23Z")
Or, as [Carl Sagan said](https://www.livescience.com/32828-humans-really-made-stars.html), “We’re made of star stuff.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-asteroids-the-product-of-the-big-bang/923485.md?page=1)