Abstract
Earth is constantly bombarded with extraterrestrial dust containing invaluable information about extraterrestrial processes, such as structure formation by stellar explosions or nucleosynthesis, which could be traced back by long-lived radionuclides. Here, we report the very first detection of a recent influx onto Earth by analyzing 500 kg of snow from Antarctica by accelerator mass spectrometry. By the measurement of the cosmogenically produced radionuclide , an atomic ratio of was found, significantly above cosmogenic production. After elimination of possible terrestrial sources, such as global fallout, the excess of could only be attributed to interstellar which might originate from the solar neighborhood.
- Received 28 March 2019
- Revised 23 May 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.072701
© 2019 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Synopsis
Seeking Stardust in the Snow
Published 12 August 2019
Iron-60 found in fresh Antarctic snow was forged in nearby supernovae and could help deduce the structure and origin of interstellar dust clouds.
See more in Physics