An international team of scientists has made a major breakthrough in understanding how and when the Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago. This research, conducted at the GSI/FAIR center in Germany, provides new insights into the star formation process and helps us better understand the origins of our solar system. The findings have been published in the scientific journal Nature.
It is estimated that the Sun formed from a massive cloud of gas and dust, known as a molecular cloud, in a process that likely took between 10 and 20 million years. During this time, various chemical elements within the cloud interacted until our star was eventually born. These elements were produced in ancient stars, called red giants, which released their materials into space at the end of their life, thereby feeding new clouds of gas.
To estimate how long this process took, scientists study certain radioactive elements that are generated only during very specific stages and left a “fingerprint” in meteorites, which formed in the early moments of the solar system. One of these elements is lead-205, which is key to unraveling the history of our Sun.
Lead-205 is generated in stars and is unique because it only forms under certain conditions. This makes it a kind of “timestamp” that scientists can use to estimate the time that has passed since the Sun formed. However, studying lead-205 and how it behaves in space is challenging, as under normal conditions on Earth, its decay is extremely slow and difficult to observe.
To overcome this difficulty, scientists conducted a pioneering experiment at Germany’s GSI/FAIR laboratory. There, they used an experimental storage ring that allowed them to study how thallium-205 (an element related to lead-205) behaves under extreme conditions, similar to those found in space, such as temperatures of millions of degrees. This laboratory is the only one in the world capable of creating these special conditions that simulate the environment within stars, where elements like lead-205 are produced.
The research required decades of technological development and the collaboration of over 30 institutions from 12 countries. According to the experiment’s spokesperson, Professor Yury Litvinov, this achievement was made possible through the combined efforts of many scientists and technical advancements in fields such as the production and storage of atoms without electrons, a necessary condition for observing the decay of thallium-205 in the laboratory.
With the data from this experiment, researchers can calculate more precisely how and when lead-205 was formed in stars and eventually reached the cloud that gave birth to the Sun. This allows them to set a time range for solar formation: we now know that the process took approximately between 10 and 20 million years.
For scientists, this discovery is crucial as it allows them to better understand the steps leading to the birth of the Sun and ultimately of the entire solar system, including our planet. Additionally, this breakthrough underscores the importance of having cutting-edge laboratories like GSI/FAIR, which enable researchers to replicate and study space phenomena under laboratory conditions.
SOURCES
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schewerionenforschung GmbH
Leckenby, G., Sidhu, R.S., Chen, R.J. et al. High-temperature 205Tl decay clarifies 205Pb dating in early Solar System. Nature 635, 321–326 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08130-4
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