26Al in the Early Solar System: Not so Unusual After All

TL;DR

This paper argues that the early solar system's 26Al abundance was typical, based on evidence from extrasolar asteroids showing similar radioactive heating effects, challenging previous assumptions of an unusually high initial 26Al level.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the initial 26Al abundance in the solar system was not unusual, using asteroid composition data to support this conclusion.

Findings

Extrasolar asteroids show large Fe/Al variation

Radioactive decay of 26Al caused igneous differentiation

Solar system's 26Al levels were typical, not exceptional

Abstract

Recently acquired evidence shows that extrasolar asteroids exhibit over a factor of 100 variation in the iron to aluminum abundance ratio. This large range likely is a consequence of igneous differentiation that resulted from heating produced by radioactive decay of 26Al with an abundance comparable to that in the solar system's protoplanetary disk at birth. If so, the conventional view that our solar system began with an unusually high amount of 26Al should be discarded.