"Gold forms in supernovae even today...but won't affect the spot price on earth during this millennium"

In a recent A-Letter about the most "boring" Investment out there, we incorrectly stated that gold was only created during a limited time in the history of the universe...and in infinitesimally small quantities.

Sadly, we're not astrophysicists.

But luckily for us, at least one of our readers is...

"...Your final discussion about gold being rare, and formed in supernovae which give rise to neutron stars is essentially correct," says Stephen, a Ph.D in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Harvard University.

"But it is not correct that it requires a collision of neutron stars, which would be a very rare event and wouldn't produce gold in any case. Neither is it correct that supernovae and neutron stars were only formed early on while the universe was in its infancy. Gold is produced in a supernova, which also produces a neutron star, or if massive enough, a black hole."

"And there certainly wasn't only one time early in the universe's history when gold was formed. It continues to be formed in supernovae even today, which occur every 50 to 100 years in our galaxy."

"But the gold here - in our earth and solar system - is indeed relatively old - formed 5 or more billions of years ago." ...this is the gold that would affect spot price.

"Our solar system formed out of gas and dust which had been recycled out of these earlier supernovae, and thus contained gold and other precious metals at the time of formation 5 billion years ago. No new supply exists in our neighborhood, at least until the Sun goes into its red giant phase."

"In summary, it's not a very limited time in the universe's history in which the production of gold occurs, but it is indeed a tiny amount of gold produced, in relation to the common elements (uranium is rarer still)."

"The supply of gold is rare, not just because supernovae are rare - only about 1 supernova occurs 50 to 100 years in our Milky Way galaxy - but also because only an extremely small fraction of the mass in the outer layers of the star gets converted during the very rapid stellar explosion."

"So we end up with the 50' by 50' cube as earth's share as you mention in the article, and the "incredibly stable store of value.""

How could I not feel outclassed by this answer? It'd probably be best if I just stuck to investing and steered clear of astrophysics in the future.