Cosmology question - where is the cinder?

[Stu Pidasso]

Our sun is a second generation star. It and our solar system coalesced from some of the remains of a first generation star that went supernova.

As I understand it, when a star goes supernova it doesn't completely "blow up". In a supernova much of the star's mass gets blasted away but some of it remains. A "cinder" is left. There are different kinds of "cinders" like black holes, nuetron stars, quasars etc.

My question is that if our sun is a second generation star, where is the "cinder" from the 1st generation star that went supernova and formed all our heavey elements. I would think that "cinder" would be relatively close by(astronomically speaking).

Stu

[TimM]

It does not need to be nearby anymore. They have had billions of years to diverge. Also the material which formed our sun does not necessarily have to be from a single remnant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_...iral_structure

[Metric]

Slight nit: The sun is at least 3rd generation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity

[evank15]

It's not necessarily close at all. It's been 5 billion years. Things can travel a long time in 5 billion years.

Also, this is not cosmology.