Scientists in the United States are restoring the original structure of the solar system at the beginning of its formation by analyzing the isotopic composition within a large number of asteroids and meteorite fragments on Earth.
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States are restoring the original structure of the solar system at the beginning of its formation by analyzing the isotopic composition within a large number of asteroids and meteorite fragments on Earth.
Scientists have found that Jupiter and Saturn, the largest planets in our solar system, were formed at the very beginning of the solar system’s formation, and as they grew, their orbits were both pulled closer to the Sun and pushed farther away by multiple gravitational forces, undergoing many adjustments before finally stabilizing in their present-day state.
Because Jupiter and Saturn are so massive, they also had a strong influence on other bodies during the formation of the solar system. This new study argues that many planets in the solar system were simply not where they are now at the beginning of the solar system’s formation.
The researchers looked at the isotopic composition of several different groups of meteorites. Almost all of the meteorites that fell on Earth came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Although this asteroid belt is only a narrow part of the solar system, it contains material from a wide range of sources, including material from all parts of the solar system.
For example, researchers have identified several families of asteroids with specific spectral characteristics within the belt, each with a specific chemical composition; in addition, analysis of Earth meteorites has shown that they originate from at least a hundred different primitive bodies within the belt.
Researchers believe that the planets developed their own unique material signatures during their accretionary growth phase. Astronomers can then trace this material back to the objects from which it originated through such signatures, with isotopic anomalies in primordial nucleosynthetics being a powerful tool for representation.
“If we want to know what the solar system looked like at the beginning of its formation, we need a tool to reconstruct these primordial structures.” Greg Brennecka, a cosmochemist at LLNL and one of the authors of this study, said, “We found a way to reconstruct what the solar system looked like at the beginning using the characteristics of isotopes within meteorites.”
Members of the group extracted basaltic meteorites to measure the isotopic signatures of neodymium and zirconium within the nucleosynthesis, showing that they have a relatively isotopically scarce signature unique to the precursor material that produced the Sun. Several other elements within the nucleosynthesis exhibit similar characteristics. This suggests that this precursor material was widespread in the early stages of the solar system, the study says.
“Comparing these isotopic signatures with several models of solar system reconstructions links where the planets were during their formation to where they are now, helping us reconstruct the early structure of the solar system.” said Jan Render, lead author of the study.
The study was recently published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
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