How do we know how old the sun is 1
Scientists estimate that our sun is about 4.57 billion years old. They also have surprising confidence in that number, which raises an immediate question: how do we know? The short answer is "lots of science and math" but I have a feeling you're not here for the short answer.In fact, we have several independent lines of evidence that give the same answer. Just as a good prosecutor uses DNA, eyewitnesses, fingerprints, and a variety of tools to frame a murder suspect, scientists like to use multiple methods to support a single answer.
The first approach is to search for the oldest in the solar system. The technique scientists use is called nucleocosmochronology, and when you finish unpacking the Greek prefixes you'll realize that this strategy involves using nuclear radioactivity to determine the ages of things in space.
For this to work, scientists are looking for elements that may have come from the radioactive decay of other, more unstable elements.An example is iron-60, a variant of iron with a total of 60 protons and neutrons in its nucleus. Iron-60 is incredibly difficult to craft and is usually only produced in shockwaves that occur after supernova explosions. After a few million years, iron-60 decays to nickel-60, which is stable and will remain forever.
Scientists have found nickel-60 scattered throughout the solar system, particularly in meteorites that date back to the formation of the solar system. By measuring the amount of nickel-60, astronomers can turn back the clock and determine when the solar system was first flooded with iron-60.Puppis A, visible as a red cloud of dust in this NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer image, is the remnant of a supernova explosion.
Shown as a red cloud of dust in this NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer image, Puppis A is the remnant of a supernova explosion.
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