Supernova Shrapnel Found In Meteorite

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Supernova Shrapnel Found In Meteorite

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 9, 2010 @04:52AM from the just-missed-the-dinosaurs dept.

coondoggie writes "Talk about finding a needle in a cosmic haystack. Scientists this week said they found microscopic shrapnel in a meteorite of a star they say exploded around the birth of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago."

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The wonders of science... by grub · 2010-09-09 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny

Remarkable!

Think of the odds: this meteorite landed 146 years ago in 1864.

What are the chances that something would be flying around the solar system for nearly 4.5 billion years then hit this wee planet which was Created only 5854 years earlier?

Most amazing indeed.

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Trolling is a art,
1. Re:The wonders of science... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-09 04:57 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Magnets, how do they work?
2. Re:The wonders of science... by TitusC3v5 · 2010-09-09 05:13 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  TFA was really sparse on details. It didn't even say what kind of super powers it would give us if we came in contact with it.
  
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  And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
3. Re:The wonders of science... by AffidavitDonda · 2010-09-09 05:28 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  it will give you Hemolysis and survival of autologous red blood cells salvaged after cemented and uncemented total hip arthroplasty
4. Re:The wonders of science... by dilvish_the_damned · 2010-09-09 05:32 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  The universe was created 6000 years ago too. The 4.5 billion figure, for any object terrestrial, or extra-terrestrial, is the product of a duped mind, duped by Satan himself; bound, like Satan himself to writhe eternally in the lake of fire
  So its to be Phoenix then?
  
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  I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
5. Re:The wonders of science... by corbettw · 2010-09-09 07:00 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What an oddly specific power.
  
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  God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
6. Re:The wonders of science... by c++0xFF · 2010-09-09 08:15 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  What are the chances that something would be flying around
  the solar system for nearly 4.5 billion years then hit this wee planet which
  was Created only 5854 years earlier?
  Easy: 50%. Either it'll happen or it won't. Pretty good odds, I'd say.
Any files left? by MrEricSir · 2010-09-09 04:56 · Score: 4, Funny

Were they able to recover any files from Suprnova?

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OH NOES! by garyisabusyguy · 2010-09-09 04:59 · Score: 2, Funny

The Supernova matter will now corrupt our Solar system and makes us goes Supernova too!

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Wherever You Go, There You Are
Supernova Shrapnel??? by snookerhog · 2010-09-09 05:02 · Score: 3, Informative

no I didn't RTFA and it has been a while since my last astrophysics class, but isn't any atom heavier than Fe technically supernova shrapnel? I always understood that supernovas were the only place that there was enough energy to make these heavier atoms, no?
1. Re:Supernova Shrapnel??? by radtea · 2010-09-09 05:13 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  isn't any atom heavier than Fe technically supernova shrapnel?
  Not if you consider "shrapnel" to mean "fragments that are small but not gaseous". The point here is that a nanoscale grain of chromium54 has been found, which suggests it cooled out of the supernova gas cloud and was driven into the meteroite during a collision, so it is a more-or-less pristine piece of supernova condensate that has not been processed further, the way the iron on Earth has, for example.
  That's a fairly interesting find, I'd say.
  
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2. Re:Supernova Shrapnel??? by jackpot777 · 2010-09-09 05:15 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  We are all made of stars.
  
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  Shiny. Let's be bad guys...
3. Re:Supernova Shrapnel??? by ImprovOmega · 2010-09-09 08:56 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  isn't any atom heavier than Fe technically supernova shrapnel?
  Iron is kind of a ground-state on the periodic table. Below that, more energy is required to keep an atom together (hence, why fusion works to release energy), above that it takes less energy to have the atom be smaller (hence, why fission *also* releases energy). Iron is the direction everything trends towards. When every last drop of energy has been squeezed out of the universe, the final super-massive black hole of everything will be made up of a giant ball of iron.
Readability by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-09 05:08 · Score: 2, Insightful

Scientists this week said they found microscopic shrapnel in a meteorite of a star they say exploded around the birth of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago."
You know, editors, that sentence would be a lot more readable if it were phrased: "Scientists this week said they found, embedded in a meteorite, microscopic shrapnel from a star they say exploded around the birth of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago"
I had to do a double-take because of "meteorite of a star they say exploded". I didn't know stars had meteorites!
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by eln · 2010-09-09 05:11 · Score: 4, Funny

This is why you should never shoot blindly into the sky. Sure you think it's harmless, but your great-great-great-great(etc)-grandparents won't think it's so funny when they get attacked out of the blue by an alien race from another star system seeking revenge for your errant shot that just happened to kill their beloved leader. Your celebratory gunfire after your local sports team wins some meaningless (from a pan-galactic perspective) competition could end up sparking an interstellar war.
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by jackpot777 · 2010-09-09 05:13 · Score: 2, Funny

Sounds impressive, until you think of how many of these fragments were flying around in all directions.
Think of it as a More Dakka situation of stellar proportions.

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Shiny. Let's be bad guys...
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by Nadaka · 2010-09-09 05:13 · Score: 5, Interesting

Davy Crocket didn't have > 2 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 tons of bullets either.
Lots of supernova remnants around by GlobalEcho · 2010-09-09 05:14 · Score: 3, Interesting

Everything on this earth heavier than lead (atomic number 82) comes from supernovae. And most of the other heavy stuff (heavier than iron) comes from them as well.
So we live among a lot of supernova remnants.
1. Re:Lots of supernova remnants around by kurokame · 2010-09-09 07:33 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Almost right. You can only really make those heavier elements through processes which occur during a supernova, yes. But although lighter elements (say, carbon) can be made during normal stellar lifetimes...how are you going to get it out?
  I found a supernova remnant this morning. It was my foot.
  The article is a little less than clear about the actual research that occurred, as usual. From the sound of it, I suspect that what they found was discrete ejecta - a blob of material which recognizably came from a specific supernova which had not mixed with other material. This is cool since it gives us a sample which we can study in that specific context.
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by Tynin · 2010-09-09 05:25 · Score: 3, Funny

It is too late, the first shot in the intergalactic war has already been fired!!!
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by srussia · 2010-09-09 05:26 · Score: 2, Funny

Davy Crocket didn't have > 2 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 tons of bullets either.
Apparently, Wilt Chamberlain did. This is like finding one of his kids.

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But can you name the supernova? by Xtifr · 2010-09-09 05:26 · Score: 2, Interesting

I didn't RTFA yet either (and I'm hoping to find something a little more reliable/interesting/useful than a NetworkWorld blog), but, reading between the lines of the summary, I think the point is not so much that it comes from a supernova, but that they identified the particular supernova. Which would be pretty amazing. Of course, given the accuracy of detail in a typical slashdot summary, this could actually turn out to be a story about anything from a new supernova being discovered in a distant galaxy to a new exploit in some brand of router whose name sounds like "supernova". :)
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by Zenaku · 2010-09-09 05:27 · Score: 2, Interesting

My great-great-great-great(etc)-grandparents are all dead already, so they probably won't be troubled by it.

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Has no one else noticed by wiredog · 2010-09-09 05:31 · Score: 2, Interesting

that "Supernova Shrapnel" would be an excellent name for a rock band?

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Re:Shrapnel of a star in a meteorite? by mbone · 2010-09-09 05:55 · Score: 2, Informative

The idea is that the supernova exploded, send out a shell of gas (as supernovas do), and that this shell of gas mixed into the nebula forming the solar system, giving us lots of heavy elements, and highly amplified concentrations (but still trace amounts) of various isotopes coming from the decay of very radioactive isotopes only formed in supernova. Since these particular supernova products decay rapidly, in general galactic matter they would be hard to find, so finding their decay products is a clear sign of proximity to a supernova event.
The particles in question here are 100 nanometers across, and presumably condensed as the supernova shell cooled. Calling them "Shrapnel" is misleading - they would make a virus look huge. I would call them smoke particles, but they are even smaller than that.
Which Supernova? by Doc+Ruby · 2010-09-09 06:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

Which supernova did this shrapnel originate in? Is it still around somewhere, 4.5Gy later? Do we know where it was, or even which direction in today's sky it would be if it were still there?

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Re:I would consider it to be 'dust'.. by Hognoxious · 2010-09-09 06:29 · Score: 4, Funny

Great. Now Pluto ranks below shrapnel.

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Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Re:Extreme sharpshooting by damien_kane · 2010-09-09 08:12 · Score: 2, Funny

You jest, but, that shot was observed by the aliens who have a station on the dark side of the moon.
That base was erected (similar to NORAD) as an early warning/observation post.
Via subspace/ftl data transmission, they have warned the beings on their home planet (99.99~ light years away) that Sol-3 has launched a pre-emptive strike with a single death ray.
First response was, of course, to send enough ordinance towards earth that we will assuredly be destroyed.
We will be attacked by the alien life-forms, and any survivors will assume the aliens attacked us without provocation. when it hits us in a few hundred years. It's really too bad we didn't figure out how to hit them with something bigger than a single laser beam.