Distances to Recent Near-Earth Supernovae From Geological and Lunar 60Fe

TL;DR

This study estimates the distances to recent near-Earth supernovae using geological and lunar ${}^{60}$Fe data, accounting for uncertainties in measurements and supernova parameters, and suggests the supernovae occurred within 20-140 parsecs from Earth.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of ${}^{60}$Fe data to constrain supernova distances, incorporating uncertainties and parameter studies to refine estimates.

Findings

Supernova 3 Myr ago was approximately 50-65 pc away.

Supernova 7 Myr ago was approximately 110 pc away.

Estimated ${}^{60}$Fe ejected mass and dust fraction significantly influence distance calculations.

Abstract

Near-Earth supernova blasts which engulf the solar system have left traces of their ejecta in the geological and lunar records. There is now a wealth of data on live radioactive ${}^{60}$Fe pointing to a supernova at 3 Myr ago, as well as the recent discovery of an event at 7 Myr ago. We use the available measurements to evaluate the distances to these events. For the better analyzed supernova at 3 Myr, samples include deep-sea sediments, ferromanganese crusts, and lunar regolith; we explore the consistency among and across these measurements, which depends sensitively on the uptake of iron in the samples as well as possible anisotropies in the ${}^{60}$Fe fallout. There is also significant uncertainty in the astronomical parameters needed for these calculations. We take the opportunity to perform a parameter study on the effects that the ejected ${}^{60}$Fe mass from a core-collapse supernova and the fraction of dust that survives the remnant have on the resulting distance. We find that with an ejected ${}^{60}$Fe mass of $3\times10^{-5} M_\odot$ and a dust fraction of 10%, the distance range for the supernova 3 Myr ago is $D \sim 20 - 140$ pc, with the most likely range between $50 - 65$ pc. Using the same astrophysical parameters, the distance for the supernova at 7 Myr ago is $D \sim 110$ pc. We close with a brief discussion of geological and astronomical measurements that can improve these results.