Hydrogen And Helium

There are two ways to reread a text. The first way is just a second reading. The second way is a careful examination of each paragraph for note-taking or, nowadays, blogging purposes. I found a wealth of information in "Lodestar," which has led me back into Mirkheim.

One passage read several times previously suddenly impressed me with a detail that I do not remember having noticed before. Poul Anderson informs his readers of relevant cosmogony by having Adzel screen documentary coverage of the Mirkheim crisis. The speaker intones:

"We believe all matter began as a chaos of hydrogen, the smallest atom. Some of it was fused in the primordial fireball to form helium; more of this process happened later, in the enormous heat and pressure at the hearts of stars which condensed from that gas. And there the higher elements were built..."
-Poul Anderson, Rise of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 42.

I had known that:

hydrogen is the first and smallest atom;
helium is next in size;
there was a lot of hydrogen and a much smaller quantity of helium at the Beginning;
stellar fusion generates heavier elements -

- but had overlooked the fact that there was pre-stellar fusion and that that is where the original helium came from.

I am currently rereading Mirkheim for information about Coya Conyon/Falkayn but find that I continue reading even when Coya goes offstage. Technic civilization becomes more alive with each detail and datum.

Early tomorrow morning, I will drive Sheila, to whom I have been married since 1974, into the next county for a hip replacement operation which will be followed by several months of recuperation. Posts may be fewer and further between for a while.