For decades, scientists have wondered about the origin of the Conduls, mysterious spherules of millimeter size that form the main component of most meteorites that fall to the earth. They are, in essence, the fundamental bricks of asteroids and, by extension, of the planets. Now, a study published in Scientific Reports By Sin-Iit Sirono and Diego Turrini proposes an elegant and violent solution: his formation was a direct side effect of Jupiter’s birth.
The enigma of cosmic drops. Within the most primitive meteorites that arrive on Earth, we find tiny spheres of roco material, between 0.1 and 2 millimeters, called Candrulos. These particles are incredibly abundant, becoming more than 80% of some meteorites, suggesting that they were formed in a massive and fundamental process at the dawn of the solar system. Scientists consider them the basic components from which the rocky planets were formed, including the Earth.
The mystery of how they formed. The problem is that, until now, no one had managed to convince how they formed. The analyzes indicate that the Conduls were folk drops that cooled at a very concrete pace, between 10 and 1000 Kelvins per hour. The mystery lies in which process Roca could melt on a mass scale in the cold space and then disperse it throughout the space.
Jupiter, the culprit of the cosmic carambola. This is where the importance of this recent scientific study enters. Through complex numerical simulations, researchers have shown that the birth of the largest planet in our solar system was a cataclysm event that unleashed chaos.
As the young Jupiter grew and his gravity became immense, he began to act like a cosmic slope, disturbing the orbits of the planetsimal (rocky bodies of hundreds of kilometers) that are precursors of the planets and that surrounded him.
Jupiter as the origin of meteorites. The model reveals that Jupiter launched at huge speeds (more than 2 km/s) to the volatile planets (such as water ice) that were in the cold exterior regions of the solar system. These frozen projectiles were catapulted towards the interior solar system, where they hit the rocky and dry planets that resided there.
Water vapor as secret ingredient. This is where the core of discovery resides. Impact simulations show what happened in these high -speed collisions, highlighting instant fusion, since during the clash a huge amount of molten silicate was generated.
An explosive expansion was also detected, making the ice contained in the planet impactor did not melt, but instead instantly vaporized by heat, creating a gigantic cloud of rapid expansion gas. Finally, this gas explosion acted as a cosmic spray, dispersing the melted rock in countless tiny drops. At the same time, the gas expansion itself cooled these drops at a pace that perfectly coincides with the measurements of the Conduls
A discovery that gives ‘light’ to space. This mechanism explains for the first time both the millimeter size of the Conduls and their particular cooling speed, two characteristics that had been very difficult to reconcile in previous models.
Jupiter’s birth certificate. The most fascinating consequence of this model is that it allows us, for the first time, to date Jupiter’s birth with great precision. Scientists know, thanks to the dating of meteorites, that the peak of Condulos formation occurred approximately 1.8 million years after the appearance of the first solids of the Solar System, known as Cais.
The simulations of Sirono and Turrini show that the production of molten rock – and, therefore, of Candrulos – shoots right at the time that Jupiter enters its “increased gas increase in runaway”, that is, its main growth stretch. By connecting both events, it can be concluded that Jupiter was born (its main growth phase began) about 1.8 million years after the start of the solar system.
A conclusion that solves several enigmas. This finding not only solves an old mystery about our origins, but also provides us with a clock to calibrate the events that shape our cosmic neighborhood. The formation of the “bricks” of the earth was not a quiet process, but a direct consequence of the violent and chaotic birth of its gigantic neighbor.
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