Supernova Iron tagged posts

Since the moon generally provides a better cosmic record than Earth, the scientists were also able to specify for the first time an upper limit for the flow of 60Fe that must have reached the moon. Credit: © SkyLine / Fotolia

Confirmation of supernova explosion in the neighborhood of our solar system. ~2 million yrs ago a star exploded in a supernova close to our solar system: Its traces can still be found today in the form of an iron isotope found on the ocean floor. Now scientists have found increased concentrations of this supernova-iron in lunar samples as well. They believe both discoveries to originate from the same stellar explosion.

Estimation of the local fluence of Fe60 on the Moon’s surface. The dashed curves represent two different integration scenarios.

Increased concentrat...