A star in the constellation Cetus is trailing a tail 13 light-years long. The tail, hot gasses thrown off the red giant, is made up of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Scientists believe that the gasses will form the nuclei of new solar systems. These elements are, with hydrogen, the ones that make up organic molecules atoms such as amino acids and sugars.
Our own solar system is made of atoms that have passed through another star at least once. The original atoms were almost all hydrogen and helium; anything heavier came from the fusion of a star’s dying aeons.
