[meteorite-list] Chondrule formation mechanism (Info Please)

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Oct 25 12:55:57 2006
Message-ID: <gs4vj2l5rsus1r2ja18oec9o1231h6knpt_at_4ax.com>

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:52:23 -0400, you wrote:

>If the heavy elements, such as nickel and iron, are created by a supernova,
>and the chondrules are in theory formed much later during the future
>dynamics of our solar system's nebula, would it be fair to say that the
>metal flecks would be billions and billions (apologies, Carl) of years OLDER
>than chondrules?

Of course the individual atoms in chondrules are much older than the chondrules
themselves (but know knows exactly how many stellar generations ago) but as for
the actual flecks of metal themselves, I think that they are concentrated by
whatever mechanism it is that melts the chondrules-- like oil seperating from
water, the iron/nickel seperated from the silicates (and that is more apparent
in armored chondrules).

Recently there has been news of studies on the decay products of short-lived
supernova produced elements that show that there were supernovas very close
(both in space and time) to the proto-solar system. (This article was posted 22
minutes ago as I'm finding it)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/10/25/sun.sisters/

I believe (though I haven't googled up the articles related to it) that recent
studies of elements and isotopes in certain meteorites suggest that components
from at least 3 seperate supernovas contributed to the materials in the early
solar system.

>If so, why don't we see any remnants of any supernova explosion in our
>relative proximity? The Helix Nebula is the closest to us, at 450
>light-years!

In our current position, it takes around 225 million years for one orbit of the
center of the galaxy, or about 20 orbits since the birh of the sun. That's
plenty of time and distance for a whole lot more than 450 light-years of drift
between the sun and the nursery.
Received on Wed 25 Oct 2006 12:55:53 PM PDT