May be Solar System is moving inside the Supernovae Debris

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May be Solar System is moving inside the Supernovae Debris

The Discovery of radioactive particles deep inside the Ocean has left astronomers to think that we are passing through a cloud of supernova debris. A small amount of rare isotope Iron-60 has been found from five different samples from the Indian Ocean. As iron-60 is not naturally produced on the Earth, these atoms might have entered Earth through outer space over several thousand years. This means our Earth has constantly been exposed to this radioactive isotope for more than 33,000 years. Near the solar system, supernovae have created filaments, bubbles of low-density atoms like hydrogen.

Iron-60 has a half-life of 2.6 million years. Traces of iron-60 has also been found from lunar samples and in our galaxy. Hence any sample found on Earth must have deposited from outer space since there are no chances of iron-60 surviving from the formation of Earth 4.6 billion years ago. Iron-60 has also been found from the Antarctic snow. Iron-60 can reach Earth because it might be trapped inside the interstellar dust which later penetrates the Solar System.

    Our solar system is currently moving through Local Interstellar Cloud, a region made up of gas, plasma and dust. These clouds of dust and atoms might have been the reason behind the constant faint rain of iron-60 on Earth. However, some samples show that iron-60 was present on Earth before the solar system entered the LIC. Hence our movement through LIC and the presence of iron-60 are coincident.

    The main reason for the presence of iron-60, according to researchers is the explosion of some star, several million years ago near the SS. So it can be concluded that we are currently moving inside the supernovae debris.  

    Here are few more details about the Local Interstellar Cloud :

    Though the presence of iron-60 is not due to the LIC, still it is fascinating to read more about it. Local Interstellar Cloud or the Local Fluff is simply a cloud about 30 light-years across. It is believed that our solar system has entered the LIC between 44,000 to 150,000 years ago. It is expected that we will still remain inside this region for another 15,000 to 20,000 years.

    LIC has a temperature of 7000 K, the same temperature as the surface of the Sun. However, its specific heat is very low because the cloud has very little density (0.3 atoms per cubic cm). In contrast, Earth's atmosphere has a density of 1.3 x 10^13 atoms per cubic cm.

    The potential effect of LIC is prevented on Earth mostly due to the Solar winds and Sun's magnetic field. The cloud has an irregular shape and is mostly made up of hydrogen. 

The original research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

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