Discover the oldest material in history in a meteorite

Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz

Elhuyar Zientzia

inoiz-topatu-den-materialik-zaharrena-aurkitu-dute
A silicon carbide grain of about 8 micrometers. Ed. Janaina N. Ávila

They discover the oldest material found in a meteorite that fell in Australia 50 years ago. There are 40 granules of silicon carbide, of small size micra and before the formation of the solar system.

These silicon carbide grains are the dust of the real stars that, after destroying a star, were trapped in a meteorite for billions of years until its fall in Australia in 1969. From that meteorite called Murchison, 100 kilos of material were collected and now found in that material.

Analyzing the influence of cosmic rays, it is estimated that the majority is between 3,600 and 3,900 million years, and a few up to 5,500 million years (the Sun is 4,600 million years old and the Earth 4,500 million). In addition, researchers have suggested that the production of this material was probably generated at a time when the generation of stars was especially abundant, about 7 billion years ago.

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