Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis found a single silica grain on a meteorite from Antarctica by inspecting the rock at 20,000x magnification. This tiny dot, which is essentially a grain of sand, is chemically identical to one found in a meteorite from the Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition. Scientists have found other silica grains in asteroids, but they have all been enriched in oxygen-17, which comes from healthy stars. However, both of the newly discovered silica grains contain heavier oxygen-18, which is only formed in specific processes of supernovae.
via Gizmodo
Image: Shutterstock/jupeart
