More evidence found suggesting supernovae occurred near the solar system during its formation
Scientists have now detected more evidence that suggests a supernovae occurred very close to our solar system during its early period of formation.
Astronomers have for decades found such evidence inside meteorites. Small spherical inclusions called chondrules are thought by some to have formed when the heat of a nearby supernova caused melting. The new study finds more evidence in isotopes also found in primitive meteorites dubbed short-lived radionuclides (SLRs).
While SLRs probably existed in the part of the filament where the Sun and Solar System formed, the meteorite samples contained too much of a particular aluminum isotope for the interstellar medium to have been the Solar System’s only SLR source. Cosmic rays, which can convert stable isotopes to radioactive ones, had a better chance of explaining the number of isotopes found in the meteorites. However, it would have taken too long for this process to produce the levels of SLRs found in the early Solar System.
It is most likely that such high SLR levels could have come from either very intense stellar winds, which would have occurred during massive star formation, or from what was left after one of the massive stars went supernova.
You can read the published paper here.
If true, this data adds weight to the possibility that our solar system is somewhat unique, which in turn suggests finding just another like it — with life — might be difficult.
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Scientists have now detected more evidence that suggests a supernovae occurred very close to our solar system during its early period of formation.
Astronomers have for decades found such evidence inside meteorites. Small spherical inclusions called chondrules are thought by some to have formed when the heat of a nearby supernova caused melting. The new study finds more evidence in isotopes also found in primitive meteorites dubbed short-lived radionuclides (SLRs).
While SLRs probably existed in the part of the filament where the Sun and Solar System formed, the meteorite samples contained too much of a particular aluminum isotope for the interstellar medium to have been the Solar System’s only SLR source. Cosmic rays, which can convert stable isotopes to radioactive ones, had a better chance of explaining the number of isotopes found in the meteorites. However, it would have taken too long for this process to produce the levels of SLRs found in the early Solar System.
It is most likely that such high SLR levels could have come from either very intense stellar winds, which would have occurred during massive star formation, or from what was left after one of the massive stars went supernova.
You can read the published paper here.
If true, this data adds weight to the possibility that our solar system is somewhat unique, which in turn suggests finding just another like it — with life — might be difficult.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Let there be light…
Perhaps the presence of supernovae can be added as a variable to the Drake Equation?
Just because something is unusual in one way doesn’t mean it’s related to another unusual feature of that thing. I am reminded of the folks who noticed that it was pretty weird that both Sun and Moon appear the same size from Earth’s surface, and wanted to claim that was a necessary thing for life.
We know that’s false, because a billion plus years ago when life appeared on the planet Sol was cooler and smaller, while Luna was closer. That is, when life arose the Moon appeared much larger than the Sun. That doesn’t mean that a relatively big moon isn’t part of the answer (the most common suggestion is that such a moon saves the planet some meteor hits.)
Point is, without some chain of causation from ‘more cosmic rays than expected during solar system formation’ to ‘existence of life’ it seems little more than trivia, Fermi Paradox wise.