Protosun and solar nebula (IMAGE)

Arizona State University

Protosun and solar nebula

Caption

Artist rendition of the protosun and the solar nebula. Oxygen isotopes can be altered by ultraviolet light (gold arrows) in this environment as well. Short-lived radiogenic isotopes of aluminum (maroon wavy arrows) may also have been injected into the solar nebula. Insets show electron backscatter images from two of the calcium-aluminum inclusions analyzed for this study, and the approximate location at which these high-temperature condensates formed. The new results presented here indicate that alteration of oxygen isotopes occurred primarily in the parent molecular cloud, rather than in the solar nebula. Earth and everything on Earth has acquired an oxygen isotope composition derived from the molecular cloud from which the solar system formed. The white scale bar is three AU (Astronomical Units).

Credit

Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech/Lyons/ASU

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