Radioactive Dust From a Supernova on Antarctica

Scientists have found some radioactive dust from a supernova that landed in Antarctica when a star exploded millions of years ago.  The radioactive dust from a supernova was discovered under thousands pounds of snow.  They are hoping to be able to find out a lot more about the history of our galaxy.  Especially how the cosmic environment ended up surrounding our solar system.

The scientists took some of the snow and melted it down to get the tiny specks of dust so they could analyze it for radioactive isotopes.  In the isotopes they found more than they had bargained for.  They found that the supernova had deposited iron into our solar system on its travels between now and the last 1.5 to 3 million years.  If the dust had traveled through some everyday cosmic rays the earth may not have collected the dust for these scientists to investigate.  In this study they may be able to better map the composition of the Milky Way.