More Calcium in the Universe than previously expected

Good news for sufferers of osteoporosis. There is more calcium in the universe than theoretical physicists had predicted:

According to Jelle de Plaa, space researcher at SRON, many answers can be found in distant clusters of galaxies. "Clusters are in many ways the big cities of the universe", he says.

"They consist of hundreds of galaxies, each containing thousands of millions of stars. The galaxies are embedded in a gigantic cloud of hot gas that fills this cluster like a smog. Due to their enormous size and numbers, clusters contain a large fraction of the total amount of matter in the universe. During the past thousand-millions of years supernova explosions have enriched the surrounding hot gas with heavier elements, like oxygen, silicon and iron."

Using XMM-Newton, De Plaa determined the abundances of oxygen, neon, silicon, sulphur, argon, calcium, iron and nickel in 22 clusters of galaxies. In total he saw the 'pollution' produced by about 100 thousand million supernovae. When he compared the measured amounts of elements in the clusters with theoretical models of supernovae, the calcium abundance measured thanks to XMM-Newton appeared to be one and a half times higher than theoreticians previously assumed. (Emphasis mine.)

No word on whether the prices of supplements will decrease.