Crystalline silica in meteorite brings scientists closer to understanding solar evolution

A multi-institutional team of researchers has discovered silica mineral quartz in a primitive meteorite, comprising direct evidence of silica condensation within the solar protoplanetary disk, and offering new clues to understanding solar formation and evolution. Though previous infrared spectroscopic observations have suggested the existence of silica in young and newly formed T Tauri stars as well as in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in their last phase of life, no evidence of gas-solid c...