4.6 billion-year-old meteorite sheds light on early solar system

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite could shed light on the early solar system, new analysis suggests.

The meteorite, called Erg Chech 002, was discovered in 2020 in the Erg Chech region of the Sahara Desert in Algeria.

Aluminium-26 (26Al), a radioactive isotope (same form of the same element) that was present in the meteorite when it formed, was spread unevenly throughout our solar system, the new study in combination with previously published data indicates.

Researchers suggest the findings increase our understanding of the early solar system and may improve the accuracy of determining the ages of very old meteorites.

Erg Chech 002 is an andesitic achondrite – a type of stony meteorite among the oldest known of to date.

According to the research published in Nature Communications, 26Al was a major heat source for early planetary melting and Erg Chech 002’s age provides an opportunity to further explore the initial distribution of the isotope within the early solar system.

Whether it is distributed evenly throughout the early solar system is important in determining the age of meteorites.

Evgenii Krestianinov at the Australian National University, and colleagues, analysed Erg Chech 002 and determined its lead-isotopic age as about 4.566 billion years old.