For the first time ever, evidence of a supernova type Ia explosion has been identified in the Egyptian desert, thanks to new chemistry “forensics” techniques. These extremely uncommon supernovas are among the universe’s most energetic phenomena.

This is the result of a recent study by Jan Kramers, Georgy Belyanin, and Hartmut Winkler of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), as well as others, published in the journal Icarus.

In a little part of the Hypatia Stone, Belyanin and Kramers have identified a sequence of exceedingly unexpected chemical hints since 2013.

In the new investigation, they painstakingly eliminate ‘cosmic suspects’ for the stone’s origin. They’ve put together a timeline that goes all the way back to the beginnings of the formation of Earth, the Sun, and the other planets in our solar system.

A cosmic chronology

Their theory regarding Hypatia’s beginning begins with a star: The collapse of a red giant star into a white dwarf star. The collapse would have occurred within a massive dust cloud known as a nebula.

That white dwarf was discovered to be part of a binary system with another star. The other star was subsequently devoured by the white dwarf star. The ‘hungry’ white dwarf detonated as a supernova type Ia within the dust cloud at some point.

The gas atoms that remained from supernova Ia began to attach to the dust cloud particles after cooling.

“In a sense, we could say, we have ‘caught’ a supernova Ia explosion ‘in the act’, because the gas atoms from the explosion were caught in the surrounding dust cloud, which eventually formed Hypatia’s parent body,” according to Kramers.

This supernova dust-and-gas-atoms mix formed a massive ‘bubble’ that never interacted with other dust clouds.

Eventually, the ‘bubble’ would solidify in a ‘cosmic dust bunny’ kind of fashion after millions of years. During the early phases of the development of our solar system, Hypatia’s ‘parent body’ would solidify into solid rock.

This process most likely took place in the Oort cloud or the Kuiper belt, in the chilly, quiet outer reaches of our solar system.

At some point, Hypatia’s parent rock started hurtling toward Earth. The heat of entry into the earth’s atmosphere, along with the pressure of impact in the Great Sand Sea in southwest Egypt, fragmented the parent rock and generated micro-diamonds.

The Hypatia stone found in the desert must be one of the impactor’s countless fragments.

“If this hypothesis is correct, the Hypatia stone would be the first tangible evidence on Earth of a supernova type Ia explosion. Perhaps equally important, it shows that an individual anomalous ‘parcel’ of dust from outer space could actually be incorporated in the solar nebula that our solar system was formed from, without being fully mixed in,” adds Kramers.

“This goes against the conventional view that dust which our solar system was formed from, was thoroughly mixed.”

Three million volts for a tiny piece?

The researchers analyzed the odd stone using different approaches to piece together a timeline of how Hypatia may have developed.

An analysis of argon isotopes in 2013 revealed that the rock was not formed on Earth. It had to be from another planet. According to a 2015 examination of noble gases in the shard, it could not originate from any known meteorite or comet.

The UJ team released several analyses in 2018, including the discovery of a mineral called nickel phosphide, which has never been discovered before in any object in our solar system.

Hypatia was proving difficult to study further at the time. With the technology they possessed, the trace metals Kramers and Belyanin were hunting for couldn’t be ‘seen in detail.’ They needed something more powerful that wouldn’t damage the little sample.

Kramers began analyzing a dataset created by Belyanin a few years prior.

Belyanin conducted a series of tests on a proton beam at the iThemba Labs in Somerset West in 2015. Dr Wojciech Przybylowicz was in charge of keeping the three-million Volt machine running at the time.

Trying to find a pattern

“Rather than exploring all the incredible anomalies Hypatia presents, we wanted to explore if there is an underlying unity. We wanted to see if there is some kind of consistent chemical pattern in the stone” adds Kramers.

Belyanin carefully chose 17 targets for study from the little sample. All were chosen to be far from the earthly minerals that had formed in the original rock’s fissures following its impact in the desert.

“We identified 15 different elements in Hypatia with much greater precision and accuracy, with the proton microprobe. This gave us the chemical ‘ingredients’ we needed, so Jan could start the next process of analysing all the data,” Belyanin says.

Solar system is also ruled out by the proton beam

The surprisingly low level of silicon in the Hypatia stone targets was the first important new hint from the proton beam investigations. For something created within our inner solar system, silicon, chromium, and manganese were all less than 1%, which is to be expected.

High iron, sulphur, phosphorus, copper, and vanadium levels were also noticeable and unusual, according to Kramers.

Kramers says that “we found a consistent pattern of trace element abundances that is completely different from anything in the solar system, primitive or evolved. Objects in the asteroid belt and meteors don’t match this either. So next we looked outside the solar system.”

Not from our neighborhood

Kramers then compared the Hypatia element concentration pattern to what one may anticipate seeing in the dust between stars in the Milky Way’s solar arm.

They “looked to see if the pattern we get from average interstellar dust in our arm of the Milky Way galaxy fits what we see in Hypatia. Again, there was no similarity at all.”

At this stage, the proton beam data had also ruled out four ‘suspects’ for where Hypatia could have formed.

Hypatia did not form on Earth, was not part of any known comet or meteorite, and was not formed from ordinary inner solar system dust or interstellar dust.

A red giant?

A red giant star is the next most straightforward explanation for the element concentration pattern in Hypatia. The universe is full of red massive stars.

The proton beam data, on the other hand, ruled out mass outflow from a red giant star as well: Hypatia contained too much iron, too little silicon, and too low concentrations of heavy elements heavier than iron.

May be a supernova Type II?

A supernova type II was the next ‘suspect’ to consider. Type II supernovae produce a lot of iron. They are also a rather common supernova type.

Again, Hypatia’s proton beam data ruled out a promising suspect with ‘chemistry forensics.’ Strange minerals like nickel phosphide in the pebble were exceedingly unlikely to have come from a supernova type II. In comparison to silicon and calcium, there was also too much iron in Hypatia.

It was time to investigate the expected chemistry of one of the universe’s most spectacular explosions.

Heavy metal factory?

An uncommon type of supernova also produces a large amount of iron. Type Ia supernovas only occur once or twice every century per galaxy. However, they produce the majority of the universe’s iron (Fe). The majority of the steel on Earth was previously generated by Ia supernovas.

Furthermore, established science claims that some Ia supernovas leave behind highly distinct ‘forensic chemistry’ indications. This is due to the configuration of some Ia supernovas.

A red giant star that has reached the end of its life cycle collapses into a dense white dwarf star. White dwarf stars are extremely stable over extended periods of time and are unlikely to erupt. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.

In a binary system, a white dwarf star might start ‘pulling’ matter from another star. The white dwarf star is said to ‘eat up’ its companion star. The white dwarf eventually becomes so heavy, hot, and unstable that it explodes in a supernova Ia.

The nuclear fusion during the supernova Ia explosion should create highly unusual element concentration patterns, as accepted scientific theoretical models predict.

In addition, the white dwarf star that explodes in a supernova Ia is literally blown to atoms. The matter from supernova Ia is delivered into space as gas atoms.

The team found no similar or better chemical fit for the Hypatia stone than a specific set of supernova Ia models after conducting a thorough literature search of star data and model findings.

Forensic elements evidence

Kramers says: “All supernova Ia data and theoretical models show much higher proportions of iron compared to silicon and calcium than supernova II models.

“In this respect, the proton beam laboratory data on Hypatia fit to supernova Ia data and models.”

In total, eight of the 15 elements studied fall within the projected proportional limits in relation to iron. Silicon, sulphur, calcium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, and nickel are the elements in question.

However, not all 15 of the Hypatia elements studied matched the predictions. The proportions of six of the 15 elements were 10 to 100 times higher than those expected by theoretical models for supernovas of type 1A. Aluminium, phosphorus, chlorine, potassium, copper, and zinc are the elements in question.

Kramers adds: “Since a white dwarf star is formed from a dying red giant, Hypatia could have inherited these element proportions for the six elements from a red giant star. This phenomenon has been observed in white dwarf stars in other research.”

If this theory is right, the Hypatia stone would be the first concrete evidence on Earth of a supernova type Ia explosion, one of the most intense explosions in the cosmos.

The Hypatia stone would be a clue to a cosmic drama that began during our solar system’s early development and would be discovered many years later in a desolate desert studded with other stones.

Image Credit: Getty

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