Some meteorites contain microscopic grains of stardust created by nucleosynthesis before our solar system existed. Many grains contain sulfur isotopes that are clues to the grains’ origins in novae and supernovae. Sulfur production from nucleosynthesis depends on the prior production of argon-34. Scientists created and studied argon-34 and established criteria for determining whether particular grains originated in novae or supernovae.
Tag: presolar grains
Ancient micrometeoroids carried specks of stardust, water to asteroid 4 Vesta
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are the first to study presolar materials that landed on a planet-like body. Their findings may help solve the mystery: where did all the water on Earth come from?