Scientists Found a Supernova at the Bottom of the Sea

The Earth has been traveling through radioactive dust clouds for the past 33,000 years, mainly due to supernova explosions. We find evidence of this in the deep sea. ”- This information has come up in a recent research.

Researchers at the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) at the Australian National University (ANU) have found traces of Iron-60 in deep sea sediments from two different places of 33,000 years older.

"These clouds could be the remnants of a previous supernova explosion, a powerful and very bright explosion of stars," said Professor Anton Walner, lead author of ANU's Atomic Physics.

 The discovery may shed some light on what surrounds the solar system - but it is also somewhat questionable.

Let’s go a little deeper.

What exactly is Iron-60?

This is evidence of the existence of supernovae. Because, the isotope Iron-60 is formed only when the stars die in a supernova explosion. It has four more neutrons than the most common element on earth, iron.

It must have come to Earth from the other side of the solar system.

Fe-60, an iron isotope half-life of 2.6 million years, decays as a result of radioactive radiation within 15 million years. Since the Earth is 4.6 billion years old, that means any Iron-60 found on Earth must have reached here via a supernova before it ended up at the bottom of our ocean. 

Researchers have previously discovered iron-60 about 2.6 million years ago.

BTW, what is a supernova? Is supernova a dying star?

"A supernova is an exploding star. There are some stars in space that for a moment are suddenly ignited by a sudden explosion of carbon in the center and disappear instantly. Those whose color is yellowish or bright yellow are called supernovae. Usually a thermal nucleus reacts in the core of a star until it runs out of hydrogen. After the hydrogen is depleted, the core of the star begins to shrink, but the radius of the outer shell continues to increase. At the same time, the temperature of its surface also decreases. This state is basically called Super Red Giant. If its mass is between two solar masses (the mass of the sun is called one solar mass, five solar masses means five times the mass of the sun).At the end of a supergiant star's life cycle, it runs out of fuel. As a result, the pressure drops and it collapses so fast that the outer part of the star explodes, causing a huge-illuminated event! Which could be even brighter than the whole galaxy. This is called supernova or supernova explosion. At this time the pressure of the star core is much higher. "

Many people have some questions like-" Would a supernova destroy Earth? or Are there any supernova near Earth?" We will discuss about this question in an another article.

Are there any supernova near Earth?

This type of supernova explosion is the source of the heaviest elements in the universe. And even then they have remnants, such as the Crab Nebula and Cassiopia-A.

When scientist Carl Sagan said that "we are all made up of star stuff," he was referring to the heavy elements of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen created in stars, and the remnants of dead stars. But to put it more accurately, according to scientist Carl, "we are all made up of nuclear waste." 

The researchers say that this calprite could be the Local Intesteller Cloud (LIC), known as the "Local Fluff". Whose source is unclear.

Local Fluff is a 30 light-year-wide dust cloud that is currently moving through the solar system and is actually almost gone. It has a slightly higher concentration than hydrogen gas. This type of molecule is the most common in the universe. 

During orbit, the Earth probably picked up iron-60 particles from this radioactive stardust "Fluff". Last year, researchers in Antarctica discovered an iron-rich "stardust." 

However, what this new study suggests is that there is evidence of more iron-60 in the solar system in addition to the iron-60 contained in "Local Fluff." 

This study raises two questions- 

•  If the “Local Fluff” cloud is not made up of a supernova, where did   it come from?

•  Does Iron-60 actually spread evenly in space?

Iron-60 is located in the middle of the dust floating in the air. So perhaps it came from a much older supernova explosion. 

"After all, it seems that these heavier elements could not be made in standard supernovae," says scientist Walner. It may require two neutrons, a rare and more explosive event to combine. ”