Sun's role in formation of the solar system questioned
5 Sep 2008, 1249 Hrs

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Washington, September 5 (ANI): Evidence has emerged from the surface of a meteorite that questions the theory of the sun's role in formation of the solar system.

A strange mix of oxygen found in a stony meteorite that exploded over Pueblito de Allende, Mexico nearly 40 years ago has puzzled scientists ever since.

Small flecks of minerals lodged in the stone and thought to date from the beginning of the solar system have a pattern of oxygen types, or isotopes, that differs from those found in all known planetary rocks, including those from Earth, its Moon and meteorites from Mars.

Now, scientists from UC (University of California) San Diego and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have eliminated one model proposed to explain the anomaly: the idea that light from the early Sun could have shifted the balance of oxygen isotopes in molecules that formed after it turned on.

When they beamed light through carbon monoxide gas to form carbon dioxide, the balance of oxygen isotopes in the new molecules failed to shift in ways predicted by the model.

The results pare down the potential explanations for how gas and dust coalesced to form the planets and will help this team and others interpret samples of the solar wind returned by NASA's Genesis spacecraft.

Scientists think the early Sun emitted intense far-ultraviolet light. Light energy at these very short wavelengths will dislodge oxygen atoms from molecules, freeing them to hook up with others in new combinations.

The team, led by Subrata Chakraborty, a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego and first author of the study paper, focused an intense beam of far-ultraviolet light generated by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source into a tube filled with carbon monoxide gas.

The light knocked some of the oxygen atoms free, allowing them to recombine with other carbon monoxide molecules to form carbon dioxide.

Chakraborty then collected and analyzed the carbon dioxide to determine the balance of oxygen isotopes in the new molecules.

By precisely controlling the wavelength of the light, the scientists were able to set up conditions that should have resulted in oxygen isotope mixes that matched either those found on Earth or in the Allende meteorite.

Wavelengths known to be absorbed by 16O should result in carbon dioxide molecules enriched with the heavier forms of oxygen.

They tested two of these wavelengths: one enriched the mix; the other did not.

Wavelengths not absorbed by 16O should result in a mix that matched that found in the Allende meteorite. Again, of the two the team tested, one did and one did not.

By analyzing samples of the Sun's outer atmosphere captured from the solar wind, the Genesis mission aims to determine the original composition of the solar nebula, the swirl of dust and gas that formed the solar system. (ANI)