Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The locations of recent supernovae near the Sun from modelling 60Fe transport

Nature volume 532, pages 73–76 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The signature of 60Fe in deep-sea crusts indicates that one or more supernovae exploded in the solar neighbourhood about 2.2 million years ago1,2,3,4. Recent isotopic analysis is consistent with a core-collapse or electron-capture supernova that occurred 60 to 130 parsecs from the Sun5. Moreover, peculiarities in the cosmic ray spectrum point to a nearby supernova about two million years ago6. The Local Bubble of hot, diffuse plasma, in which the Solar System is embedded, originated from 14 to 20 supernovae within a moving group, whose surviving members are now in the Scorpius–Centaurus stellar association7,8. Here we report calculations of the most probable trajectories and masses of the supernova progenitors, and hence their explosion times and sites. The 60Fe signal arises from two supernovae at distances between 90 and 100 parsecs. The closest occurred 2.3 million years ago at present-day galactic coordinates l = 327°, b = 11°, and the second-closest exploded about 1.5 million years ago at l = 343°, b = 25°, with masses of 9.2 and 8.8 times the solar mass, respectively. The remaining supernovae, which formed the Local Bubble, contribute to a smaller extent because they happened at larger distances and longer ago (60Fe has a half-life of 2.6 million years9,10). There are uncertainties relating to the nucleosynthesis yields and the loss of 60Fe during transport, but they do not influence the relative distribution of 60Fe in the crust layers, and therefore our model reproduces the measured relative abundances very well.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Probability clouds of the two most recent supernovae.
Figure 2: Analytical model of 60Fe-carrying shells at 1.4 Myr and 2.2 Myr before present.
Figure 3: Numerical simulations for 60Fe distribution associated with the Local and Loop I superbubbles.
Figure 4: Deposition of 60Fe on Earth.

References

  1. Knie, K. et al. Indication for supernova produced 60Fe activity on Earth. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 18–21 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Knie, K. et al. 60Fe anomaly in a deep-sea manganese crust and implications for a nearby supernova source. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 171103 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fitoussi, C. et al. Search for supernova-produced 60Fe in a marine sediment. Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 121101 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bishop, S. et al. Search for supernova 60Fe in the Earth’s fossil record. In American Physical Society April Meeting 2013 58, abstr. X8.00002, http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2013.APR.X8.2 (2013)

  5. Fry, B. J., Fields, B. D. & Ellis, J. R. Astrophysical shrapnel: discriminating among near-Earth stellar explosion sources of live radioactive isotopes. Astrophys. J. 800, 71 (2015)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kachelrieß, M., Neronov, A. & Semikoz, D. V. Signatures of a two million year old supernova in the spectra of cosmic ray protons, antiprotons, and positrons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 181103 (2015)

    Article  ADS  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Fuchs, B., Breitschwerdt, D., de Avillez, M. A., Dettbarn, C. & Flynn, C. The search for the origin of the Local Bubble redivivus. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 373, 993–1003 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Benítez, N., Maíz-Apellániz, J. & Canelles, M. Evidence for nearby supernova explosions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 081101 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rugel, G. et al. New measurement of the 60Fe half-life. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 072502 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wallner, A. et al. Settling the half-life of 60Fe: fundamental for a versatile astrophysical chronometer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 041101 (2015)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Berghöfer, T. W. & Breitschwerdt, D. The origin of the young stellar population in the solar neighborhood—a link to the formation of the Local Bubble? Astron. Astrophys. 390, 299–306 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Breitschwerdt, D. & de Avillez, M. A. The history and future of the Local and Loop I bubbles. Astron. Astrophys. 452, L1–L5 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. de Avillez, M. A. & Breitschwerdt, D. The distribution of Li-like ions in the Local Bubble. Astrophys. J. 697, L158–L161 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. de Avillez, M. A. & Breitschwerdt, D. Non-equilibrium ionization modeling of the Local Bubble. I. Tracing C iv, N v, and O vi ions. Astron. Astrophys. 539, L1 (2012)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Savage, B. D. & Lehner, N. Properties of O vi absorption in the local interstellar medium. Astrophys. J. 162 (Suppl.), 134–160 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Maíz Apellániz, J. & Úbeda, L. Numerical biases on initial mass function determinations created by binning. Astrophys. J. 629, 873–880 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Schaller, G., Schaerer, D., Meynet, G. & Maeder, A. New grids of stellar models from 0.8 to 120 M☉ at Z = 0.020 and Z = 0.001. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser . 96, 269–331 (1992)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. European Space Agency. The HIPPARCOS and TYCHO Catalogues. Astrometric and Photometric Star Catalogues derived from the ESA HIPPARCOS Space Astrometry Mission. ESA Special Publication SP-1200, http://www.rssd.esa.int/SA/HIPPARCOS/docs/vol1_all.pdf (ESA, 1997)

  19. Egger, R. J. & Aschenbach, B. Interaction of the Loop I supershell with the Local Hot Bubble. Astron. Astrophys. 294, L25–L28 (1995)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Massey, P., Johnson, K. E. & DeGioia-Eastwood, K. The initial mass function and massive star evolution in the OB associations of the northern Milky Way. Astrophys. J. 454, 151–171 (1995)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Weaver, R., McCray, R., Castor, J., Shapiro, P. & Moore, R. Interstellar bubbles. II—structure and evolution. Astrophys. J. 218, 377–395 (1977)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. McCray, R. & Kafatos, M. Supershells and propagating star formation. Astrophys. J. 317, 190–196 (1987)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Kahn, F. D. in IAU Colloq. 166: The Local Bubble and Beyond (eds Breitschwerdt, D., Freyberg, M. J. & Truemper, J. ) Vol. 506 of Lecture Notes in Physics 483–494 (Springer, 1998)

  24. Sedov, L. I. Similarity and Dimensional Methods in Mechanics 10th edn, 242–251 (CRC Press, 1993)

  25. Taylor, G. The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion. II. The atomic explosion of 1945. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. A 201, 175–186 (1950)

    Article  ADS  CAS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  26. Wanajo, S., Janka, H.-T. & Müller, B. Electron-capture supernovae as sources of 60Fe. Astrophys. J. 774, L6 (2013)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Athanassiadou, T. & Fields, B. D. Penetration of nearby supernova dust in the inner solar system. New Astron. 16, 229–241 (2011)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Firestone, R. B. Observation of 23 supernovae that exploded <300 pc from Earth during the past 300 kyr. Astrophys. J . 789, 29 (2014)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Erlykin, A. D. & Wolfendale, A. W. Cosmic ray antiprotons and the single source model. J. Phys. G 42, 115202 (2015)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Melott, A. L., Usoskin, I. G., Kovaltsov, G. A. & Laird, C. M. Has the Earth been exposed to numerous supernovae within the last 300 kyr? Int. J. Astrobiol. 14, 375–378 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Melott, A. L. A possible role for stochastic radiation events in the systematic disparity between molecular and fossil dates. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.08125 (2015)

  32. Lindblad, B. Galactic dynamics. Handb. Phys. 11/53, 21–99 (1959)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Wielen, R. in Landolt–Börnstein: Numerical Data and Functional Relationships in Science and Technology (eds Schaifers, K. & Voigt, H. H. ) Group VI, Vol. 2, 225–227 (Springer, 1982)

  34. Woosley, S. E. & Weaver, T. A. The evolution and explosion of massive stars. II. Explosive hydrodynamics and nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. 101 (Suppl.), 181 (1995)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Rauscher, T., Heger, A., Hoffman, R. D. & Woosley, S. E. Nucleosynthesis in massive stars with improved nuclear and stellar physics. Astrophys. J. 576, 323–348 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Limongi, M. & Chieffi, A. The nucleosynthesis of 26Al and 60Fe in solar metallicity stars extending in mass from 11 to 120 M☉: the hydrostatic and explosive contributions. Astrophys. J. 647, 483–500 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Woosley, S. E. & Heger, A. Nucleosynthesis and remnants in massive stars of solar metallicity. Phys. Rep. 442, 269–283 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Fields, B. D., Hochmuth, K. A. & Ellis, J. Deep-ocean crusts as telescopes: using live radioisotopes to probe supernova nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. 621, 902–907 (2005)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Poutivtsev, M. Extraterrestrisches53Mn in hydrogenetischen Mangankrusten. PhD thesis, Technische Univ. München, https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/?id=610694 (2007)

  40. Feige, J. et al. AMS measurements of cosmogenic and supernova-ejected radionuclides in deep-sea sediment cores. In Eur. Phys. J. Web Conf. 63, 03003, http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20136303003 (2013)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Teyssier, R. Cosmological hydrodynamics with adaptive mesh refinement. Astron. Astrophys. 385, 337–364 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. Ferrière, K. Global model of the interstellar medium in our galaxy with new constraints on the hot gas component. Astrophys. J. 497, 759–776 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. de Avillez, M. A. & Breitschwerdt, D. Volume filling factors of the ISM phases in star forming galaxies. I. The role of the disk-halo interaction. Astron. Astrophys. 425, 899–911 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. Kuijken, K. & Gilmore, G. The mass distribution in the Galactic Disc. I—A technique to determine the integral surface mass density of the disc near the sun. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 239, 571–603 (1989)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. Kuijken, K. & Gilmore, G. The mass distribution in the Galactic Disc. II—Determination of the surface mass density of the Galactic Disc near the Sun. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 239, 605–649 (1989)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. Ferland, G. J. et al. CLOUDY 90: numerical simulation of plasmas and their spectra. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 110, 761–778 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. Robitaille, T. P. & Whitney, B. A. The present-day star formation rate of the Milky Way determined from Spitzer-detected young stellar objects. Astrophys. J. 710, L11–L15 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. Salpeter, E. E. The luminosity function and stellar evolution. Astrophys. J. 121, 161–167 (1955)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. Blaauw, A. The O associations in the solar neighborhood. Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 2, 213–246 (1964)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. Fleck, R. C. Scaling relations for the turbulent, non–self-gravitating, neutral component of the interstellar medium. Astrophys. J. 458, 739 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. de Avillez, M. A. & Breitschwerdt, D. The generation and dissipation of interstellar turbulence: results from large-scale high-resolution simulations. Astrophys. J. 665, L35–L38 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Boldyrev, S. Kolmogorov-Burgers model for star-forming turbulence. Astrophys. J. 569, 841–845 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. Davidson, P. A. Turbulence: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers 1st edn, 234–235 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2004)

  54. de Avillez, M. A. & Mac Low, M.-M. Mixing timescales in a supernova-driven interstellar medium. Astrophys. J. 581, 1047–1060 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  55. Wasserburg, G. J., Gallino, R. & Busso, M. A test of the supernova trigger hypothesis with 60Fe and 26Al. Astrophys. J. 500, L189–L193 (1998)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Wang, L., Ku, T. L., Luo, S., Southon, J. R. & Kusakabe, M. 26Al-10Be systematics in deep-sea sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 60, 109–119 (1996)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Sharma, P., Klein, J., Middleton, R. & Church, T. M. 26Al and 10Be in authigenic marine minerals. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 29, 335–340 (1987)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. Feige, J. Supernova-produced Radionuclides in Deep-sea Sediments Measured with AMS. PhD thesis, Univ. Vienna, http://othes.univie.ac.at/35089 (2014)

Download references

Acknowledgements

D.B., M.A.de.A. and M.M.S. acknowledge funding by the DFG priority program 1573 “Physics of the Interstellar Medium”. We thank U. Bolick for help during the preparation of the manuscript and R. Teyssier for discussions on details of the RAMSES code.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Berlin Institute of Technology, Hardenbergstraße 36, Berlin, 10623, Germany

    D. Breitschwerdt, J. Feige, M. M. Schulreich & M. A. de. Avillez

  2. Department of Mathematics, University of Évora, Rua Romão Ramalho 59, Évora, 7000, Portugal

    M. A. de. Avillez

  3. Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstraße 12–14, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany

    C. Dettbarn & B. Fuchs

Authors
  1. D. Breitschwerdt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Feige
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. M. Schulreich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. A. de. Avillez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. C. Dettbarn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. B. Fuchs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

D.B. worked out the model, and led the research and the paper writing. J.F. carried out analytic calculations, interpreted the crust data, calculated the IMF and produced Figs. 1 and 2 and the lower part of Fig. 4 and Extended Data Figs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. M.M.S. performed extensive numerical simulations on the background interstellar medium, the evolution of the Local Bubble and Loop I bubbles and the 60Fe transport and produced Fig. 3 and the upper part of Fig. 4. M.A.de.A. was involved in the interpretation of the data and the numerical simulations. C.D. carried out the analysis of the moving group stars, calculated the trajectories of both Local Bubble and Loop I progenitor stars and wrote a program to determine the probability distributions. B.F. worked analytically on the epicyclic equations and carried out the cumulative distribution function calculations for the most probable trajectories.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Breitschwerdt.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 60Fe yields from various nucleosynthesis models 34,35,36,37.

Given that the yields are mass-dependent, an average between the highest37 and lowest36 was calculated and extrapolated towards the lower mass range. Superscripts in the legend refer to reference numbers.

Extended Data Figure 2 26Al yields from various nucleosynthesis models 34,35,36,37.

To be conservative, the highest yields36 were fitted and extrapolated towards the lower mass range.

Extended Data Figure 3 53Mn yields from various nucleosynthesis models 34,35,37.

Again, to be conservative, the highest yields35 were fitted and extrapolated towards the lower mass range.

Extended Data Figure 4 26Al in the ferromanganese crust.

The largest fraction arises from atmospheric production, hiding a possible supernova signal. The arrival times of the supernova shells (analytical model with input parameters identical to the 60Fe model) are indicated by a blue square (UCL) and a green dot (LB, Local Bubble shell), whereas the blue and green shaded histograms represent the amount of 26Al deposited onto the crust, normalized to 27Al. The resulting supernova signal (SN) is added to the atmospheric background (black dashed line). The measured 60Fe concentration2 in the layer showing the largest peak (red (blue) dashed lines) was used to scale towards the 26Al content using supernova 60Fe/26Al ratios55 of 0.6 (23). Here, the atmospheric background has been added to the signal.

Source data

Extended Data Figure 5 53Mn in the ferromanganese crust.

The largest fraction is produced from extraterrestrial dust and micrometeorite influx, hiding a possible supernova signal. Again, the analytical model with input parameters identical to the 60Fe model was used. The notation is the same as in Fig. 4.

Source data

Extended Data Table 1 Supernova explosions that created the Local Bubble
Full size table

Related audio

PowerPoint slides

Source data

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Breitschwerdt, D., Feige, J., Schulreich, M. et al. The locations of recent supernovae near the Sun from modelling 60Fe transport. Nature 532, 73–76 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17424

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17424

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing