A mazingly, individual grains of dust from stars that existed before the Sun was born have made their way to Earth in meteorites. When subjected to a battery of cutting‐edge laboratory techniques, these tiny grains provide thrilling new insights into such topics as the dynamics of supernova explosions, the age and chemical evolution of the Galaxy, fundamental nuclear physics and processes in the outer envelopes of stars. The path from dust grain to astrophysical insight is the subject of this article.
REFERENCES
1.
For a recent account of the history and status of nucleosynthesis theory, see D. Arnett, Supernovae and Nucleosynthesis, Princeton U.P., Princeton, N.J. (1996).
2.
A detailed account of this new field can be found in Astrophysical Implications of the Laboratory Study of Presolar Materials, T. Bernatowicz, E. Zinner, eds., AIP Conf. Proc. 402, AIP Press, Woodbury, N.Y. (1997).
3.
4.
5.
6.
R.
Lewis
, M.
Tang
, J.
Wacker
, E.
Anders
, E.
Steel
, Nature
326
, 160
(1987
).7.
T.
Bernatowicz
, G.
Fraundorf
, M.
Tang
, E.
Anders
, B.
Wopenka
, E.
Zinner
, P.
Fraundorf
, Nature
330
, 728
(1987
).8.
9.
R. Gehrz, in Interstellar Dust, L. Allamandola, A. Tielens, eds., Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands (1989).
10.
G.
Huss
, A.
Fahey
, R.
Gallino
, G.
Wasserburg
, Astrophys. J.
430
, L81
(1994
).11.
12.
L.
Nittler
, S.
Amari
, E.
Zinner
, S.
Woosley
, R.
Lewis
, Astrophys. J.
462
, L31
(1996
).13.
T.
Bernatowicz
, R.
Cowsik
, P.
Gibbons
, K.
Lodders
, B.
Fegley
, S.
Amari
, R.
Lewis
, Astrophys. J.
472
, 760
(1996
).14.
15.
16.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1997 American Institute of Physics.
1997
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.