The short version to this story is that 25 years ago, Scientists in Germany created the 112th element and named it after the Polish Astronomer Copernicus (the Latin version of his name). They did this by “combining” Zinc-70 with Lead-208 to create a new type of element or atom. It took many months to verify the Scientists’ success because Copernicium (Cn for short) has a half-life of 28 seconds. Pretty incredible detective work given they only succeeded in creating ONE ATOM of this…theoretically which is Science means with 99% certainty, not an opinion. Thankfully they were vindicated completely by the Aughts as other Scientific organizations worked together to recreate this elusive, short-lived and incredibly radioactive element.
Who knows though. Somewhere else in our galaxy, maybe in our own solar system, Copernicium is a naturally occurring substance like Uranium, Iron or Copper on Earth.