We are stardust

"... A cocktail of chemicals is venting in enormous jets from the oxygen-rich surroundings of a supergiant star 5000 light years from earth, according to Arizona radio astronomers. Using the the Arizona Radio Observatory’s 10m Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) on Mount Graham, which is so sensitive it could detect emissions from deep space that are weaker than a typical light bulb, the team has picked up the chemical signatures for a range of small molecules and ions.

Among the score of small chemical species detected in the environment around the supergiant star VY Canis Majoris is common salt (NaCl), hydrogen isocyanide, phosphorus nitride, and protonated carbon monoxide ions. These materials contain several of the elements critical to the formation of life, explain the researchers, something that was not expected to be found in the atmosphere of a cool dying star ... "

http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/we-are-all-made-of-stars.html