Scanning electron microscope image of one of the clumps of presolar grains, or stardust. Image via Janaína N. Ávila/EurekAlert!
Ancient stardust in meteorite is older than Earth
Grains of stardust – particles left behind by star explosions – in an Australian meteorite are now the oldest known material on Earth. A new study suggests this stardust came to be long before our sun ever existed.
As the saying goes, we are all made of stardust. It’s true. The elements in our bodies – oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium and so on – are made in the thermonuclear furnaces of stars. When scientists speak of stardust, or cosmic dust, they’re speaking of the leftover tiny particles from dead stars that exploded as supernovae. This stardust later goes into forming new stars, planets and moons, including those in our own solar system. It goes into the solar system’s debris, the asteroids and comets, and ultimately meteorites, or rocks from space that find their way to Earth’s surface. Now scientists at the Field Museum in Chicago have found the oldest known samples of stardust in a meteorite that landed in Australia. The meteorite is estimated to be 5 to 7 billion years old. The stardust samples are the oldest material ever discovered on Earth. This dust is even older than our solar system.
The new peer-reviewed study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on January 13, 2020.
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credits: SPACE – Paul Scott Anderson, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Earth Sky, Chicago Field Museum, Phillip Heck
This is wonderful. Thank you for sharing 🙂
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many thanks to the scientists
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Wow. I love that we are stars recreated.
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I so do too, colleen
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Fascinating!
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Thanks for making me feel young today, Beth!
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We are infants
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Is tomorrow going to be gold dust ? Or am I showing my age…
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ha!
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We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Joni is a genius.
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yes, perfect lyrics, like all of hers
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Yes. I put her in the same category as Mozart.
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I’m so excited about this. So interesting and the fact that there’s something older than I am is simply a bonus.
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yes, that’s definitely a plus
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Wow, cool facts. Thank you for sharing, Beth!
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my pleasure, Erika
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I am so drawn to stars – I have them in my earlobes and on my tennis shoes today – now I know why :-).
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ah, now it all makes sense
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Very interesting, Beth.
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I thought so too
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Wow. I feel so small, yet big at the same time
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This is terrific – thanks for sharing!
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my pleasure –
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telling someone they are as old as stardust just doesn’t seem as insulting as telling them they are as old as dirt, even thought it’s more of an insult! 🙂
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yes, it sounds poetic
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Wow! Can I really wrap my head around this? It is mind boggling, and wonderful.
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When I first read it, it had to read it over and over
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Me, too.
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, the earth before us & after – humbling – thank you!
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Yes,exactly
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Lovely!
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It is poetic in its own way
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I’m laughing because the evidence has been there for so long and we continue to say it cannot be. Even with irrefutable evidence, most will continue to deny what we really are. And when you try to tell people we are just energy moving at differing frequencies, watch the eyes glaze over. Quantum physicist can prove it but most can’t open to this.
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you are so right
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That’s fascinating!
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It really is
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