[meteorite-list] Spitzer Sees Crystal Rain in Infant Star Outer Clouds

From: Pete Pete <rsvp321_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2011 10:38:00 -0400
Message-ID: <BAY153-w38DEE1457722BB78A9C6B8F87D0_at_phx.gbl>

The full article is at the link.
 
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20110526.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20110526.html
 
 
 
Spitzer Sees Crystal Rain in Infant Star Outer Clouds 05.26.11
 
 
PASADENA, Calif. -- Tiny crystals of a green mineral called olivine are falling down like rain on a burgeoning star,
according to observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
 
This is the first time such crystals have been observed in the dusty clouds of gas that collapse around forming stars.
Astronomers are still debating how the crystals got there, but the most likely culprits are jets of gas blasting away from the embryonic star.
 
"You need temperatures as hot as lava to make these crystals," said Tom Megeath of the University of Toledo in Ohio.
He is the principal investigator of the research and the second author of a new study appearing in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"We propose that the crystals were cooked up near the surface of the forming star, then carried up into the surrounding cloud where
temperatures are much colder, and ultimately fell down again like glitter."
 
 
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Received on Wed 01 Jun 2011 10:38:00 AM PDT