Scientists Find Remnant on Earth of A Rare Type la Supernova

It may be a bit depressing to know that even those huge, shiny, and powerful balls of fire from the sky will face their demise at some point. It’s also the case for our Sun, but there’s no need to worry here unless you plan to live for about 5 billion years more. Supernovae come to ruin the party for stars completely, making them explode and unleash an unprecedented amount of energy into space.

Heavy chemical elements were created thanks to supernovae. Therefore, we wouldn’t be here if stars never exploded. How amazing is that?

Egyptian meteorite grants insight into a rare Type la supernova

According to iflscience.com, scientists now believe that a small rock found over a quarter of a century ago near Egypt’s border with Libya and dubbed the Hypatia Stone is the remnant of a rare Type la supernova. Since the rock’s discovery, scientists have been amazed by its peculiar traits, as it is rich in microdiamonds and contains a different elemental makeup than any other meteorite that was examined so far.

Jan Kramers, a professor at the University of Johannesburg, explained:

If this hypothesis is correct, the Hypatia stone would be the first tangible evidence on Earth of a supernova type Ia explosion. Perhaps equally important, it shows that an individual anomalous ‘parcel’ of dust from outer space could actually be incorporated in the solar nebula that our solar system was formed from, without being fully mixed in.

It’s not necessarily to be a scientist to figure out that if a supernova occurs too close to us, it can cause a mass extinction on Earth. But thankfully, every supernova that astronomers learned about is at a safe distance from our planet.

The new theory was published in Icarus.