Are supernovae sources of presolar grains
Abstract
To explain the presence of 26Al and other isotopes in chondritic meteorites, a model is proposed whereby remnants from a nearby type II supernova (SN II) contaminated the early solar nebula. Passage of shock waves through the expanding supernova envelope is said to have produced anomalic isotopic composition in the mantle. The mantle then cooled, allowing nucleation to occur. Density figures for the mantle are presented, and comparisons with nucleation mechanisms from type I supernovae are made. Sputtering by energetic electrons in type I supernovae, however, is considered to have been destabilizing enough to impede nucleation. A reliable analysis of the mechanism of grain survival and subsequent injection into the solar nebula can not yet be made, although obstacles which the grains may have encountered (X-ray fluxes, Rayleigh-Taylor instability) are not seen as definitely fatal to grain survival.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- December 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1038/270700a0
- Bibcode:
- 1977Natur.270..700F
- Keywords:
-
- Cosmic Dust;
- Planetary Evolution;
- Solar System;
- Supernova Remnants;
- Aluminum 26;
- Chondrites;
- Earth Mantle;
- Nucleation;
- Astrophysics;
- COSMIC DUST;
- PLANETARY EVOLUTION;
- SOLAR SYSTEM;
- SUPERNOVA REMNANTS;
- ALUMINUM 26;
- CHONDRITES;
- EARTH MANTLE;
- NUCLEATION