Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, S.N. 1987, a stellar explosion, was the brightest supernova in more than 400 years. Credit: E.S.O.
The discovery of iron-60 and manganese-53 predates supernovae 2.5 million years ago.
When the brightness of the star battalions dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected that a possible supernova – a stellar explosion – had also damaged Earth. Battalions have returned to normal, while physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of supernovae erupting near Earth about 25 million years ago.
The life of stars with more than ten clusters of our sun ends in a supernova, a huge stellar explosion. This explosion leads to the formation of iron, manganese and other heavy elements.
A research team led by physicists at the Technical University of Munich has confirmed the existence of both Iron-60 and Manganese-53 in the crustal layers of more than one million years old manganese. “The manganese – the first author, Dr. Gu Gunther Korsinek, says that the super 53 can be considered a” smoking gun “- is the ultimate proof that the supernova actually happened.
This manganese crust began to grow about 20 million years ago. It kept rising from level to level until it was recovered a few years ago and analyzed in the Meyer-Leibniz-Laboratory at the Technical University of Munich. At levels about 25 million years old, researchers found elevated levels of iron-60 and manganese-53. Their occurrence is evidence of supernovae approaching Earth 2.5 million years ago. Credit: Dominic Cole / TUM
Ultra trace analysis
In particular, manganese occurs on Earth as manganese-55. Manganese-53, on the other hand, is usually caused by cosmic dust found in the asteroid belt of our solar system. This dusty rain constantly falls on the earth; But only rarely do we know of large spectacles of dust glistening in the form of meteors.
New silt layers that accumulate on the marine floor over the years protect the distribution of the elements in manganese crusts and silt samples. Using accelerator mass spectrometry, a team of scientists has now discovered both levels of iron-60 and manganese-53 in deposits about a million years ago.
“This investigation is an ultra trace analysis,” says Korshikanek. “We are talking about some atoms here. But the accelerator mass spectrometry is so sensitive that it also allows us to calculate from our measurements that the star that erupts should be 11 to 25 times the size of the sun. “
Researchers were able to determine the half-life of manganese-53 by comparing it to other nucleoids and also the age of the specimens. Result: 7.7 million years. To date, only one measure has been made for this worldwide.
Reference: “Supernova maker 53G. Korsinek, T. Festerman, m. Potivatsev, a. Arazi, k. Nai, g. Rugel, and a. Wenner Laner, 17 July 2020, Physics Review Letters.
DOI: 10.1103 / fizrivate.125.031101
This research was funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the Cluster Excel f Excellence “Origin and Structure of the Universe”. In addition to the Technical University of Munich, Laboratorio Tandar, Comisian Nacional de Energia et િકા Mica, San Martin (Argentina), Concejo Nacional de Investicians Cન્ટntifes y Technicus (Concite), Buenos Airesna (a). Rusendorf participated in the research.
