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Green Crystal 'Rain' Discovered Near Infant Star

Posted by Soulskill on from the somebody-should-stake-a-claim dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this quote from a NASA press release: "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. ... The crystals are in the form of forsterite. They belong to the olivine family of silicate minerals and can be found everywhere from a periodot gemstone to the green sand beaches of Hawaii to remote galaxies. NASA's Stardust and Deep Impact missions both detected the crystals in their close-up studies of comets. ... The findings (abstract) might also explain why comets, which form in the frigid outskirts of our solar system, contain the same type of crystals."

24 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. when it rains by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    it pours

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
    1. Re:when it rains by Mikkeles · · Score: 1

      Don't forget to Drink Your Olivine!

      --
      Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    2. Re:when it rains by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      do you have a star sized umbrella?

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    3. Re:when it rains by Conare · · Score: 1

      No no, you eat the Olivine after you drink your Martian-tini.

      --
      Stop Continental Drift! Reunite Gondwanaland!
  2. How do they know by michelcolman · · Score: 1

    How can they be so sure that it's olivine? I mean, if it's green crystals, my guess would be kryptonite. But IANAS, of course.

    1. Re:How do they know by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Informative

      The linked abstract says:

      The mid-infrared spectrum reveals crystalline substructure at 11.1, 16.1, 18.8, 23.6, 27.9, and 33.6 m superimposed on the broad 9.7 and 18 m amorphous silicate features; the substructure is well matched by the presence of the olivine end-member forsterite (Mg2SiO4).

      So its basically spectroscopy. You plot amplitude vs wavelength for the light emitted by the star and associated material. Samples of different materials in the lab can be used to give you spectra for comparison. If you have a spectrum for kryptonite you could certainly plug it into the data.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:How do they know by gilleain · · Score: 1

      It's been mentioned before, but if slashdot handled unicode properly, then I would have read the micrometers in your comment, and not just 'm'. Ampersand mu doesn't work... ?

    3. Re:How do they know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My kryptonite is purely to keep Superman at bay while I plot nefariously, one chunk aught to be enough for any super villain.

    4. Re:How do they know by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Ah right. I just pasted that in from the article without considering character sets.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    5. Re:How do they know by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      The presence of kryptonite at HOPS-68 is certainly an interesting observation.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    6. Re:How do they know by Convector · · Score: 1

      That's right. Forsterite forms green crystals, but I'm sure that's not what was actually seen. It's really only possible to detect the spectroscopic signature at any distance. We're probably actually seeing single Mg2SiO4 molecules, not the larger crystals we get on Earth. They certainly have to be microscopic or they'd just block the light rather than produce an absorption spectrum. Even if you were right next to them, I bet you wouldn't see green crystals. Possibly the article says as much; I confess I did not read it.

  3. Crystal Rain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Some stay dry and others feel the pain.

  4. Green lantern by igny · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nice advertisement for the green lantern.

    --
    In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
    1. Re:Green lantern by Coisiche · · Score: 2

      I had heard that studio advertising budgets where quite large but this must have cost a pretty penny to pull off.

    2. Re:Green lantern by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      It's the sort of promotional co-branding synergy that's been facilitated when the newly merged 20th Paramount Columbia Universal Disney Brothers bought out God in a hostile takeover.

      In other news, the penalty for copyright infringement is eternal torment in hell by Marcellus Wallace. He'll get medieval on yo' cheap ass fo' EVAH. The texts of all major religions have been updated retroactively to make copyright infringement the most serious sin.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    3. Re:Green lantern by Coisiche · · Score: 1

      That would also lead to a "re-imagining" of an old movie: The Eleven Commandments. When Moses comes out with the slabs "THOU SHALT NOT USE THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF OTHERS (unless you reimburse them and their lawyers appropriately)" will be on one. The unimportant other ten will be illegible on the second slab.

      And there would still be a frickin' advert demonising copyright theft on legitimately purchased DVDs of it.

    4. Re:Green lantern by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No kidding.

      When Pirate of the Caribbean 4 came out last week, with the new Blackbeard character, I saw this story:

      http://www.google.com/search?q=blackbeard+anchor&tbm=nws

      And I remember this happening with other movies too, obscure science stories tangentially related to what's currently in the multiplex coming to the mass media front page. I don't think these occurrences are a matter of weird coincidences, nor do I think movie PR firms are investing in astronomy or marine archeology. To use a word I hate: it's synergy. But it's natural, without coordinated effort:

      1. It works for the scientists: all the movie hype can be milked for some extra interest in Blackbeard's anchor while Blackbeard is in every suburban multiplex.
      2. The news media source wins too: you're going to get a lot more clicks on your news story if it dovetails with what everyone is watching in the movies.
      3. And I guess you can call it a little extra bang for your movie advertising buck, as it keeps interest in your movie humming along.
      4. And the general public wins too, I guess, if watching Green Lantern or Pirates of the Caribbean sends one or two suburban kids down the path of science.

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. Re:Roy Batty by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    This pic got me thinking about an alternate plot where Batty found out about replicants built without limited life span and infiltrated Tyrell corp to recruit Rachel to his cause.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  6. Re:Roy Batty by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    Edit: MOTD says What use is magic if it can't save a unicorn? -- Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn"

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  7. Re:Tiberium is here by Linker3000 · · Score: 1

    Even the crystalline entity needs to relieve itself once in a while.

    --
    AT&ROFLMAO
  8. Green Lantern by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Is this some kind of public-private partnership to advertise for the upcoming Green Lantern movie?

  9. Re:not interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes. While not a particularly common mineral on the land surface of the Earth, the ocean crust has it in abundance and much of the mantle underlying the crust is comprised of olivine too. And there are places on the surface where it is abundant, such as ophiolites, some types of basaltic lava flows, and the occasional beach derived from them.

  10. I love stuff like this by pclminion · · Score: 1

    It would be crazy if we eventually discover that life in a given solar system evolves on the strange material floating around in the protostellar disk and eventually transfers to the planets when they become hospitable enough, it would explain why life seemed to evolve so early after Earth became (theoretically) habitable.

  11. Re:Worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If there are diamonds in Uranus, you clearly have too much stress and probably a strong unwillingness to spend money.