The Astronomical Biology students quickly found their seats and arranged their papers.
Dr. Tesla started his lecture promptly. He spoke as quickly as good teaching would allow, keeping a watchful eye on pens and pencils taking notes at a feverish pace.
"There is no such thing as a Black Hole." Professor Tesla began in what he hoped was not a completely vain attempt to chip away at science 'fiction' dogma. "E=MC2 always holds true, as does MC2=E. Matter does not slip into a fantasy dreamscape, or simply disappear.
The enormous quantities of Black Holes that have been theorized to exist yet cannot be found, do NOT exist.
The missing Black Holes, in fact, much of the missing dark matter that glues this part of the universe together, are comprised of Neutron stars and their progeny.
Quasars, which many wish to believe are being fueled by Black Holes, are instead, galaxies whose cores are filled with, and are being torn apart by, Neutron stars. Main sequence stars being ripped to gaseous shreds, combined with the fury unleashed as the Neutron stars tear at each other in a Galaxies over crowded center, create the havoc that we observe in Quasars.
"Listen to this." Professor Tesla said. He pulled a ball bearing an inch in diameter out of a desk drawer, stretched his arm out over a heavy-duty lab sink, and dropped the bearing. It hit with a clang, bounced, clanged again, and again, hitting the sink faster and faster, then ending with a staccato TTTTTTTTTTnnng, before coming to a stop.
Dr. Tesla looked up at his class. "Pulsars do the same thing in reverse. When the core of a large star collapses into a neutron ball that is too heavy for the neutrons at the center to support, a Black Hole is not the end result. Instead, the affected neutrons in the 'crush zone' are destroyed. Actually, changed is a better word, since the matter is converted into energy.
This explosive change leaves a small void in the center of the neutron ball, which then collapses again, explodes again, and so on. Very, very fast at first, but over time, with the loss of mass, the pulsars slow, and eventually stop.
The explosions are not enough to overcome the tremendous weight of the neutron star; therefore no visible light can be seen. However, we have measured the released energy in the forms of gamma rays and x-rays etc.
No mumbo jumbo. Only reality. Only real Neutron Stars."

9 billion years ago, a star, fated to die young because of it's immense size, created large elements as only a massive star can. In it's relatively short lifetime it made almost all of the stable elements allowed in this part of the universe. In its core Hydrogen fused to become Helium, then Helium fused to become Carbon, Oxygen, and Silicon, etc.
The newly formed atoms were pushed out of the core by the thermonuclear radiant energy. These atoms gathered at the outer edge of the star, where the radiational push equaled the gravitational pull. Very quickly, the star amassed a shell. The absorption of elementary particles, combined with the constant flow of newly formed elements from the star's center, thickened and strengthened the shell rapidly.
Masses of magnetically gathered iron slid across the shell in the form of sunspots. As the shell grew denser it became more difficult for the sunspots to pass through the shell, leaving them stranded on the surface of the star. It also became more difficult for the sun to release gas pressure in the form of flares, or, prominences, as they are called.
The various heavy metals and the incandescent sunspots gave the shell a blue-hot glow. The 100 solar mass gravitational pull quickly (in galactic terms) made the shell too strong for the flares to penetrate and relieve the tremendous pressure. Inevitably, after an unusually long time without release, the shell was ripped apart when a prominence burst out of the huge, inflated star. The powerful flare was merely a flickering prelude for what was to follow.
The shell, no longer pushed out by pressure, 'fell' onto the sun's convective zone. The gases ignited as a nova that blew the shell into deep space.
Many new elements were born out of this brighter, hotter fusion. Energy and particles released by the collapse coursed through massive sections of the shell. Fueled by free nuclei, electrons and random particles, these powerful bursts burned various new metals into the mountains.

One of these chunks of stellar shrapnel with the mass of a very large planet hurtled toward our part of the galaxy.
What used to be the shell of a star was now a parent comet.
This particular comet had originated at a point where an iron-rich sunspot had been present. As millions, then billions of years passed much of the iron combined with the oxygen that had been born in the star, giving huge expanses of the comet a distinct red color.
The comet toured the galaxy, gathering everything in its path. Atoms, molecules, and bits of space detritus clung to the comet until, eons later; it looked like a giant, dirty snowball. For billions of years it sped through clouds of gas and dust, wriggling past gravitational influences, vacuuming a trail through space.
Its peaceful journey ended when, 4 billion years ago, it entered our solar system.
Neptune, at the time the most distant planet, was fortunate to be on the other side of our system when the huge, red destroyer appeared. Uranus wasn't that lucky.
The comet passed close enough to Uranus to tip the planet over on its axis, stretching its orbit dramatically. Huge volumes of frozen gas were torn from the planet's atmosphere and thrown into the solar system. Some of the Methane gas served as seed, some was gathered later as 'rings'.
The close encounter with Uranus tore the comet into countless pieces. As they sped toward the sun they resembled chunks of ice and red rock that had been fired from a galactic shotgun.
The solar system was pummeled.
Saturn and Jupiter, having icy, volatile surfaces, were tattooed, centrifugal forces striping the planets. A large iron laden star fragment slammed into Jupiter. It melted a huge red crater, deep and large enough to have its own weather eddies.
Disaster for the planet that had circled the sun between Mars and Jupiter. The planet (which had been born of an encounter between Sol and an earlier galactic intruder) was struck head-on by a massive chunk of the comet. The force of the impact created heat sufficient to melt much of the shattered planet, as well as the piece of comet. Most of the broken, melted pieces of planet continued orbiting the sun as the Asteroid Belt, but many more careened into the solar system.
One particularly large molten chunk of planet took longer to cool than its smaller brethren. It's own gravity formed it into a ball shape before it slowly wandered into earth's orbit and was captured as our moon.
A piece of the star and a piece of the destroyed fifth planet married, and now circle the sun in a wide eccentric orbit as Pluto and its moon. Pluto, the sun of a star, is red. Charon, the bride moon, the daughter of the fifth planet, is gray.
Red, ice covered fury slammed into Mars. Brief torrents of liquid flowed across the broken surface, carving channels into Martian soil.
Calcium, sodium, iron, sulfur and other metals necessary to life were deposited on Earth. Comet 'snow' swelled the oceans. Our previously featureless and void planet gained entire continents when the pieces of comet and planet fell.
Finally the destruction was over. Some of the comet pieces shot right through our solar system, never to return. But other, huge mountainous masses were captured in orbits of varying length. Some return as ice covered rocks that are not destructive. Instead, they dazzle the eye, and jump-start the imagination.
Others return as destroyers of worlds, convoyed by countless smaller pieces of rock and iron that kill randomly.
Captured by the sun, they re-visit our solar system on a regular basis.


" There is no such thing as an Oort cloud." Professor Tesla said, punctuating his statement with a quick jab to the nosepiece of his glasses. A short, thin man with gray hair, and the nervous disposition of a small dog, Dr. Tesla dominated his students. With intelligence, wit, and love. He got even more hyper when he set about unteaching some 'pocket protector geek, Gene Roddenberry wanna be fool idea' as he was doing now.
"The regular cycle of impacts that have molded Earth both geologically and biologically will continue for eons. The impacts that left the Guyots in the Pacific nearly tore our planet in two. Mountain building and extinctions occur simultaneously throughout Earths history, and will occur again. Our oil deposits testify to the bodies of plants and animals that were washed by the giga-ton into gaping meteoric tombs.
Biblical and other ancient narratives are based on fact, not fiction."
The Professor paused, looked at his shoes.
"My far-flung colleges and I have just concluded a study. No, that isn't right. We have just finished re-checking our conclusions for the umpteenth time, and we have decided that we can't deny the truth any longer..."

In the meantime, the loosely gravitized group of star remnants that inevitably return to our solar system, depositing moons and voluminous tendrils of gas, is on the stretch run for the sun. The 'dirty snowballs' that have flash boiled hundreds of square miles of ocean into life destroying 200 foot snow flurries, are coming home. 

 
EXCERPT FROM 'ASTRO BIO' COPYRIGHT 1997 BY ERIC A. BLAIRAND
Ó COPYRIGHT 2000 KOALA T PUBLISHING ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MAY NOT BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR IN PART.