Microscopic blue crystals discovered in fragments of meteorites may be among the first minerals that formed in our solar system.

Scientists analyzing meteorites held at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History say they contain materials from over 4.5 billion years ago, revealing new insight on the behaviour of the sun in its early days.

Their composition indicates our star was spewing energetic particles at the time, suggesting it experienced a rowdy period that can be considered much like the sun’s ‘terrible twos.’

In the solar system’s early years, when the planets had not yet formed, the sun was surrounded by a massive disk of gas and dust. There, temperatures could exceed 2,700 degrees F (1,500 C). Artist's impression pictured 

‘The sun was very active in its early life – it had more eruptions and gave off a more intense stream of charged particles,’ says Philipp Heck, a curator at the Field Museum and professor at the University of Chicago.

‘I think of my son, he’s three, he’s very active too. Almost nothing in the solar system is old enough to really confirm the early sun’s activity, but these minerals from meteorites in the Field Museum’s collections are old enough.

‘They’re probably the first minerals that formed in the solar system.’

Researchers at the Field Museum studied microscopic crystals called hibonite.

According to the experts, the composition reveals chemical reactions that could only have happened if the sun were in an energetic state.

In the solar system’s early years, when the planets had not yet formed, the sun was surrounded by a massive disk of gas and dust.

There, temperatures could exceed 2,700 degrees F (1,500 C).

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‘These crystals formed over 4.5 billion years ago and preserve a record of some of the first events that took place in our solar system,’ says lead author Levke Kööp, a post-doc from the University of Chicago and an affiliate of the Field Museum.

‘And even though they are so small – many are less than 100 microns across – they were still able to retain these highly volatile noble gases that were produced through irradiation from the young sun such a long time ago.’

Microscopic blue crystals discovered in fragments of meteorites may be among the first minerals that formed in our solar system. Researchers at the Field Museum studied microscopic crystals called hibonite

The hibonite crystals formed as the young sun’s disk cooled down.

During this time, the sun continued to flare, shooting high energy particles into space – some of which collided with the blue crystals.

These collisions split the calcium and aluminium atoms in the crystals into smaller atoms, creating neon and helium, which were then trapped in the crystals for billions of years.

‘The larger mineral grains from ancient meteorites are only a few times the diameter of a human hair,’ says Andy Davis, another co-author also affiliated with the Field Museum and the University of Chicago.

‘When we look at a pile of these grains under a microscope, the hibonite grains stand out as little light blue crystals – they’re quite beautiful.’

In the study, researchers used a mass spectrometer in Switzerland to analyze the ancient minerals. This allowed for unprecedented views into the sun’s past activity.

Researchers behind the new study say the crystals' composition indicates our star was spewing energetic particles at the time, suggesting it experienced a rowdy period that can be considered much like the sun’s ‘terrible twos’

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO EARTH WHEN THE SUN DIES?

Five billion years from now, it's said the sun will have grown into a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size. 

Eventually, it will eject gas and dust to create an 'envelope' accounting for as much as half its mass.

The core will become a tiny white dwarf star. This will shine for thousands of years, illuminating the envelope to create a ring-shaped planetary nebula.

While this metamorphosis will change the solar system, scientists are unsure what will happen to the third rock from the sun.

We already know that our sun will be bigger and brighter, so that it will probably destroy any form of life on our planet.

But whether the Earth's rocky core will survive is uncertain. 

‘If people in the past didn’t see it, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, it might mean they just didn’t have sensitive enough instruments to find it,’ Koop says.

According to the researchers, this is the first solid evidence of the sun’s early activity, though scientists long suspected it had a ‘rowdy’ childhood.

‘In addition to finally finding clear evidence in meteorites that disk materials were directly irradiated, our new results indicate that the solar system’s oldest materials experienced a phase of irradiation that younger materials avoided,’ Koop says.

‘We think that this means that a major change occurred in the nascent soalr system after the hibonites had formed – perhaps the sun’s activity decreased, or maybe later-formed materials were unable to travel to the disk regions in which irradiation was possible.’