𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 by Tim Gregory is one of the best non-fiction […]

𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 by Tim Gregory is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. It describes in sculpted prose how scientists have explored the mysteries of our solar system’s formation and dated the age of the Earth using the ancient time capsules that routinely rain on Earth — meteorites. And here are some 5x macro zooms from my collection to bring it to life.

“Billowing through the protoplanetary disc as a mass of brightly glowing droplets of lava, clouds of freshly sintered chondrule grains swarmed for five million years. Trillions upon trillions of chondrules, in numbers that far exceed the number of stars in the observable Universe, spiraled as gravitational vortices, and coalesced to build the asteroids and the planets. What a sight it must have been.” (p.140)

The CAIs and chondrules (the circular grains) beautifully preserve pieces of cosmic sediment that formed in the collapsing nebula of our Solar System. The white CAIs are crystals formed directly from the nebular gas; they would resemble snowflakes growing out of thin air. They hold an exotic blend of oxygen isotopes unknown on Earth. Our sun has the exact same blend of oxygen isotopes. The CAIs formed next to the sun at 1,400°F like primordial white Sun snow. Stellar gusts from the surface of the sun blew the CAIs far outward to the colder distal regions of the protoplanetary disc. Sceintist Sorby deduced their origin and called them “drops of fiery rain” in 1877. These small spheres formed separately over 5 million years, and they agglomerated over time.

Some of the grains come from other solar systems that popped like supernova firecrackers in our midst. The diamond and silicon carbide grains “crystallized around other stars. They are pieces of bona fide stardust. Some pre-date the solar system by over three billion years! Tiny pieces of rock that are seven billion years old! The mind boggles. We call these most remarkable motes of cosmic sediment ‘pre-solar’ grains.” (p.179)

Book Site: https://www.tim-gregory.co.uk/gallery
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Meteorite-Stones-Outer-Space-World/dp/1541647610