[meteorite-list] Solar system mystery 'solved'

Jim Wooddell nf114ec at npgcable.com
Wed Apr 18 18:52:56 EDT 2012


Hi All!

Is there a published document out on this?

Jim


Jim Wooddell
http://k7wfr.us

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thunder Stone" <stanleygregr at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 12:16 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Solar system mystery 'solved'



List:
Any thoughts on this?
Greg S.


http://zeenews.india.com/news/space/solar-system-mystery-solved_770352.html


Solar system mystery 'solved'

Washington: Planetary scientists claim they may have discovered how 
"chondrules", tiny particles found in meteorites, formed at the beginning of 
the solar system, thus solving the decades-old cosmic conundrum.
Chondrules are spherical particles of molten material found in meteorites 
but their origins have long been a mystery. No longer than about one 
millimetre in diameter, they melted at temperatures of more than 1,000 
degrees Celsius, while the cooler materials surrounding them only 
experienced temperatures of a few hundred degrees Celsius.
Now, an international team, led by Australian National University, has 
cracked the mystery as to how "chondrules" could have actually formed in 
extreme heat, especially when the meteorite structure surrounding them 
remained cold.
"Most of the solar system is cold, so it's been unclear for decades what 
caused the chondrules to experience such extreme heat. We believe that 
chondrules formed in jets of material ejected from flattened discs, called 
'protostellar discs', which encircle young stars.
"These discs are somewhat like the rings around the planet Saturn. The 
modern planets are the remnants of material of these discs clumping 
together. In observations of the formation of new stars, we can see jets of 
material accelerating out of protostellar discs.
"We show that as these jets shoot out of the discs, from about the Earth-Sun 
distance away, the materials brought with them are heated to the point of 
melting. The heavier items in them then drop back into the discs, where they 
cool and re- form," Raquel Salmeron, who led the team, said.
The scientists said that their theory challenged old assumptions about the 
formation of chondrules.
"For decades it has been assumed that jets could only form chondrules 
through the heating of materials in the vicinity of the Sun, followed by 
their transportation into protostellar discs," Salmeron said in a varsity 
release.
"We believe that our new theory explains how chondrules -- among the 
earliest materials in the solar system -- reached the temperatures required 
for melting, even though the early solar nebula was cold. It also explains 
the fairly uniform size of chondrules and provides a means for them to mix 
and combine with unheated material," Salmeron added.
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