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Published online 13 March 2008 | Nature 452, 259- (2008) | doi:10.1038/452259a

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The Solar System's first breath

NASA's Genesis probe offers clues to the Sun's oxygen.

Eric Hand

HOUSTON, TEXAS Scientists have made the crucial measurement of oxygen composition at the birth of the Solar System. The discovery fulfils the top science priority of the NASA Genesis probe, which slammed into the Utah desert in 2004 on its return to Earth when its parachute failed to open.

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  • This is great news! It confirms that our solar system formed out of heterogeneous debris [poorly mixed isotopes and elements] left in the equatorial plane after the Sun exploded as a supernova: http://www.omatumr.com/Origin.htm The experimental basis of that conclusion was published over 30 years ago ["Strange xenon, extinct super-heavy elements and the solar neutrino puzzle", Science 195, 208-209 (1977)]. http://www.omatumr.com/archive/StrangeXenon.pdf Oxygen-16 was made near the core of the supernova. In 1976 Clayton et al. found that O-16 is most abundant in meteorites that formed in the inner part of the solar system, near the Sun. http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1976Data.htm This new measurement shows that the Sun that formed on the collapsed SN core has even more O-16 than the Earth. These data show that oxygen in the Sun is near the lower left corner of this correlation diagram. With kind regards, Oliver K. Manuel http://www.omatumr.com http://www.thesunisiron.com/

    • 14 Mar, 2008
    • Posted by: Oliver Manuel

  • PS - Strange xenon with excess Xe-136 from the r-process of nucleosynthesis was reported in the Sun in 1976. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v262/n5563/abs/262028a0.html

    • 14 Mar, 2008
    • Posted by: Oliver Manuel

    • 15 Mar, 2008
    • Posted by: Klaus J. Seelig

  • Here is a summary of earlier reports of excess O-16 & Xe-136 in the Sun http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2005/StrangeOxygen.pdf

    • 16 Mar, 2008
    • Posted by: Oliver Manuel