Public release date: 28-Feb-2008
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Graphite whiskers found in meteorites

Transmitted light image of a small inclusion that contains graphite whiskers, sulfide, and chromite minerals within a chondrule in the QUE 94366 CV meteorite. Inset: Raman spectroscopy image of the...

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Researchers have identified an unusual form of carbon, known as graphite whiskers, in primitive grains in several meteorites, a finding that may help us understand condensation in our solar system and perhaps certain features of stars called supernovae, researchers report in the Feb. 29 issue of Science. Graphite whiskers can be condensed from high-temperature plasmas in the laboratory but they haven’t been found in nature until now. Researchers have proposed that these needle-like graphite structures might be affecting the brightness of type 1a supernovae, which are used as a distance measure in astronomy. Now, Marc Fries and Andrew Steele have found several graphite whiskers in some of the most primitive mineral grains (which also formed at the highest temperatures) in several meteorites. Thus, these whiskers likely condensed from our early hot solar nebula and may also exist in other stellar systems.

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ARTICLE #25: "Graphite Whiskers in CV3 Meteorites," by M. Fries and A. Steele at Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, DC.

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