Ancient meteorites preserve building blocks of early solar system
By Tereza Pultarova about 11 hours ago
Some meteorites contain grains older than the solar system.
An electron microscope image of a micron-sized silicon carbide stardust grain extracted from the Murchinson meteorite. (Image credit: NASA, Nan Liu and Andrew Davis)
Scientists are shedding light on the mysterious origins of ancient meteorite grains using a new analysis method.
These grains, which are older than the solar system itself, formed in ancient stars that died before our sun's birth. Similar stars still exist in the universe and the analysis of these presolar grains provides an interesting glimpse into the stars' chemistry.
Scientists have tried to analyze presolar grains in meteorites before, but Nan Liu, a research assistant professor of physics at Washington University in Missouri and lead author of a new study, believes that earlier methods of studying these grains have been too inaccurate.
Liu and her team analyzed samples of the Murchinson meteorites, which showered 220 lbs. (100 kilograms) of cosmic rock onto the Australian town of Murchinson in 1969. Scientists who previously studied these meteorites quickly realized that this meteoric rain was a lucky strike, and not only because one of the largest pieces broke through the roof of a local barn somehow without injuring anyone.
More:
https://www.space.com/ancient-meteorites-grains-clues-about-carbon-stars