Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-p5m67 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-02T16:08:37.461Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Presolar grains: a record of stellar nucleosynthesis and processes in interstellar space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Harry Y. McSween, Jr  and
Gary R. Huss
Harry Y. McSween, Jr
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Gary R. Huss
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Get access

Summary

Overview

Presolar grains give us a direct window into stellar nucleosynthesis and provide probes of processes in interstellar space and in the solar nebula. Known types of presolar grains originated in the winds or ejecta of stars that lived and died before the solar system formed. After presenting a short history of how presolar grains came to be recognized, we describe how to identify presolar grains, the techniques used to study them, and the various types of grains currently available for study. We then review what presolar grains can tell us about stellar nucleosynthesis, the environments around evolved stars and in the interstellar medium, and how they can be used as probes of conditions in the early solar system.

Grains that predate the solar system

In recent years, a new source of information about stellar nucleosynthesis and the history of the elements between their ejection from stars and their incorporation into the solar system has become available. This source is the tiny dust grains that condensed from gas ejected from stars at the end of their lives and that survived unaltered to be incorporated into solar system materials. These presolar grains (Fig. 5.1) originated before the solar system formed and were part of the raw materials for the Sun, the planets, and other solar-system objects. They survived the collapse of the Sun's parent molecular cloud and the formation of the accretion disk and were incorporated essentially unchanged into the parent bodies of the chondritic meteorites.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Cosmochemistry , pp. 120 - 156
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bernatowicz, T. J. and Zinner, E. (1997) Astrophysical Implications of the Laboratory Study of Presolar Materials. AIP Conference Proceedings 402. American Institute of Physics, Woodbury, New York, 750 pp. An important volume describing the first decade of research on presolar grains.Google Scholar
Lewis, R. S., Tang, M., Wacker, J. F., Anders, E. and Steel, E. (1987) Interstellar diamonds in meteorites. Nature, 326, 160–162. The paper describing the discovery of the first presolar grains.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nittler, L. R. (2003) Presolar stardust in meteorites: recent advances and scientific frontiers. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 209, 259–273. A good accessible review of presolar grains in meteorites.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zinner, E. (2004) Presolar grains. In Treatise on Geochemistry, Volume 1: Meteorites, Comets, and Planets, ed. Davis, A. M.Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 17–39. A recent review of the state of knowledge about presolar grains. The on-line version is updated periodically.Google Scholar
Alexander, E. C., Jr., Lewis, R. S., Reynolds, J. H. and Michel, M. C. (1971) Plutonium-244: Confirmation as an extinct radioactivity. Science, 172, 837–840.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Amari, S., Anders, E., Virag, A. and Zinner, E. (1990) Interstellar graphite in meteorites. Nature, 345, 238–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amari, S., Lewis, R. S. and Anders, E. (1994) Interstellar grains in meteorites. I. Isolation of SiC, graphite, and diamond; size distributions of graphite and SiC. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 58, 459–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beer, H., Corvi, F. and Mutti, P. (1997) Neutron capture of the bottleneck isotopes 138Ba and 208Pb, s-process studies, and the r-process abundance distribution. Astrophysical Journal, 474, 843–861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernatowicz, T. J., Cowsik, R., Gibbons, P. E.et al. (1996) Constraints on stellar grain formation from presolar graphite in the Murchison meteorite. Astrophysical Journal, 472, 760–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernatowicz, T. J., Croat, T. K. and Daulton, T. L. (2006) Origin and evolution of carbonaceous presolar grains in stellar environments. In Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, eds. Lauretta, D. S. and McSween, H. Y., Jr. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 109–126.Google Scholar
Black, D. C. and Pepin, R. O. (1969) Trapped neon in meteorites II. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 6, 395–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, J. P. (2004). Interplanetary dust particles. In Treatise on Geochemistry, Vol. 1. Meteorites, Comets, and Planets, ed. Davis, A. M.Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 689–711.Google Scholar
Cameron, A. G. W. (1962) The formation of the Sun and planets. Icarus, 1, 13–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, R. N., Grossman, L. and Mayeda, T. K. (1973) A component of primitive nuclear composition in carbonaceous meteorites. Science, 182, 485–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clayton, R. N., Onuma, N., Grossman, L. and Mayeda, T. K. (1977) Distribution of the pre-solar component in Allende and other carbonaceous chondrites. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 34, 209–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, R. N., Hinton, R. W. and Davis, A. M. (1988) Isotopic variations in the rock-forming elements in meteorites. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A325, 483–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croat, T. K., Bernatowicz, T., Amari, S., Messenger, S. and Stadermann, F. J. (2003) Structural, chemical, and isotopic microanalytical investigations of graphite from supernova. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 67, 4705–4725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daulton, T. L., Bernatowicz, T. J., Lewis, R. S.et al. (2003) Polytype distribution in circumstellar silicon carbide: Microstructural characterization by transmission electron microscopy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 67, 4743–4767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dauphas, N., Marty, B. and Reisberg, L. (2002) Molybdenum nucleosynthetic dichotomy revealed in primitive meteorites. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 569, L139–L142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galllino, R., Busso, M., Picchio, G. and Raiteri, C. M. (1990) On the astrophysical interpretation of isotope anomalies in meteoritic SiC grains. Nature, 348, 298–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallino, R., Raiteri, C. M. and Busso, M. (1993) Carbon stars and isotopic Ba anomalies in meteoritic SiC grains. Astrophysical Journal, 410, 400–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huss, G. R. and Lewis, R. S. (1994) Noble gases in presolar diamonds II: Component abundances reflect thermal processing. Meteoritics, 28, 811–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huss, G. R. and Lewis, R. S. (1995) Presolar diamond, SiC, and graphite in primitive chondrites: Abundances as a function of meteorite class and petrologic type. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 59, 115–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huss, G. R. and Smith, J. A. (2007) Titanium isotopes in isotopically characterized silicon carbide grains from the Orgueil CI chondrite. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 42, 1055–1075.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huss, G. R., Meshik, A. P., Smith, J. B. and Hohenberg, C. M. (2003) Presolar diamond, silicon carbide, and graphite in carbonaceous chondrites: Implications for thermal processing in the solar nebula. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 67, 4823–4848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huss, G. R., Rubin, A. E. and Grossman, J. N. (2006) Thermal metamorphism in chondrites. In Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, eds. Lauretta, D. S. and McSween, H. Y., Jr. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 567–586.Google Scholar
Iben, I., Jr. and Renzini, A. (1983) Asymptotic giant branch evolution and beyond. Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 21, 271–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, R. S., Srinivasan, B. and Anders, E. (1975) Host phase of a strange xenon component in Allende. Science, 190, 1251–1262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, R. S., Amari, S. and Anders, E. (1994) Interstellar grains in meteorites. II. SiC and its noble gases. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 58, 471–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manuel, O. K., Hennecke, E. W. and Sabu, D. D. (1972) Xenon in carbonaceous chondrites. Nature, 240, 99–101.Google Scholar
Messenger, S., Keller, L. P., Stadermann, F. J., Walker, R. M. and Zinner, E. (2003) Samples of stars beyond the solar system: silicate grains in interplanetary dust. Science, 300, 105–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nagashima, K., Krot, A. N. and Yurimoto, H. (2004) Stardust silicates from primitive meteorites. Nature, 428, 921–924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nguyen, A. N. and Zinner, E. (2004) Discovery of ancient silicate stardust in a meteorite. Science, 303, 1496–1499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolussi, G. K., Pellin, M. J., Lewis, R. S.et al. (1998) Molybdenum isotopic compositions of individual presolar silicon carbide grains from the Murchison meteorite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 62, 1093–1104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nittler, L. R. and Cowsik, R. (1997) Galactic age estimates from O-rich stardust in meteorites. Physical Review Letters, 78, 175–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nittler, L. R., Alexander, C. M.Gao, O'D., X., Walker, R. M. and Zinner, E. (1997) Stellar sapphires: the properties and origins of presolar Al2O3 in meteorites. Astrophysical Journal, 483, 475–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podosek, F. A., Brannon, J. C., Neal, C. R.et al. (1997) Thoroughly anomalous chromium in Orgueil. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 32, 617–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, J. H. and Turner, G. (1964) Rare gases in the chondrite Renazzo. Journal of Geophysical Research, 49, 3263–3281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, V. V. and Lambert, D. L. (1990) The chemical composition of red giants. III. Further CNO isotopic and s-process abundances in thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch stars. Astrophysical Journal Supplement, 72, 387–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srinivasan, B. and Anders, E. (1978) Noble gases in the Murchison meteorite: possible relics of s-process nucleosynthesis. Science, 201, 51–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tang, M. and Anders, E. (1988) Isotopic anomalies of Ne, Xe, and C in meteorites. II. Interstellar diamond and SiC: carriers of exotic noble gases. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 52, 1235–1244.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×