In our own solar system, we know this past enrichment occurred because of the compositions of meteorites that preserve the original mix of elements, or in the case of radioactive elements, they preserve the resulting elements from the decay of that original mix.

In a new paper appearing in Nature Astronomy, astronomers used a suite of telescopes to study the Ophiuchus Star-Forming region. This data set included spectacular new infrared data that highlights how material from nearby young stars is able to mix into the newly forming systems. These images indicate that supernovae in the nearby system create these radioactive elements, and the winds of both the exploding star and also from massive stars like Wolf-Rayet stars together transport these materials from the young star cluster to the star-forming region.

According to co-author Douglas N. C. Lin: Our solar system was most likely formed in a giant molecular cloud together with a young stellar cluster, and one or more supernova events from some massive stars in this cluster contaminated the gas which turned into the sun and its planetary system.

Astronomers have long suspected this happened, but this data marks the first time we’ve seen observational confirmation that this theory matches reality.

Slowly, slowly, we’re starting to understand planetary formation.

More Information

UCSC press release

“A Solar System formation analogue in the Ophiuchus star-forming complex,” John C. Forbes, João Alves, and Douglas N. C. Lin, 2021 August 16, Nature Astronomy