The Sun’s Explosion Could Be Earth’s Apocalypse. However, billions of years ago, a similar demise of other stars gave birth to our planet – as revealed by ancient meteorites.
A recent study published in the scientific journal Science has uncovered a special “transport service” provided by ancient meteorites that delivered potassium to Earth.
This potassium signature, found in compositions distinctly different from modern meteorites, was discovered in primitive meteorites that landed on the planet in its early days. However, what they brought was not just potassium but also secrets about the formation of the Solar System, including Earth.
Inside a primitive meteorite – (Photo: Nicole Nie).
Dr. Nicole Nie from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a member of the research team, stated: “The extreme conditions found in the cores of stars allow them to create elements through nuclear fusion. Each generation of stars sows the raw materials from which subsequent generations are born, and we can trace the history of this material.”
Billions of years ago, some material was ejected after the deaths of ancient stars, creating supernovae. The remnants of these “stellar corpses” in the form of gas and dust accumulated into molecular clouds. Over 4.5 billion years ago, one such “stellar corpse” cloud collapsed, giving rise to the Sun.
The remnants of this process continued to form an accretion disk around the nascent Sun. Eventually, the planets and other objects in the system coalesced from this disk.
They are not just the 8 planets, dwarf planets, and asteroids we see today, but also large planets and asteroids that were shattered billions of years ago.
“By studying the variations in isotopic signatures preserved in meteorites, we can trace the source materials from which they formed and construct a grand timeline of the chemical evolution of the Solar System and our planet” – as quoted by co-author Da Wang from Chengdu University of Technology (China).
According to the “tales” from meteorites, the “recycling” process of the universe has created an Earth and Sun formed from a mix of dead celestial bodies; later, when the Sun exhausts its energy and explodes – it is highly likely that Earth will explode as well – that deadly cloud of gas and dust will continue to give birth to new worlds.
