Solar System genealogy revealed by meteorites
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - 06:30
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org)—The stellar environment of our Solar System at its birth is poorly known, as it has accomplished some twenty revolutions around the Galactic centre since its formation 4.5 billion years ago. Matthieu Gounelle from the Laboratoire de Minéralogie et Cosmochimie du Muséum (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle/CNRS) and Georges Meynet from the Observatoire de Genève established the Solar System genealogy in elucidating the origin of a radioactive element, 26Al, which was present in the nascent Solar System. Their results are published this week in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.