Back
23· Cooling
Health & Science3h 19m ago
Grains of silicon carbide found in the Murchison meteorite, which fell in 1969, are 7 billion years old and are the oldest solid material ever held in a human hand.
Archive Window: 30 Days Left
Murchison, Victoria, Australia
Who
cosmochemist Philipp Heck
What
Grains of silicon carbide found in the Murchison meteorite, which fell in 1969, are 7 billion years old and are the oldest solid material ever held in a human hand.
When
Wed, 17 Jun 2026 03:10:14 GMT · 3h 19m ago
Where
Murchison, Victoria, Australia ·
Why
These grains formed around 7 billion years ago, about 2.5 billion years before the Sun, Earth, or anything in our solar system existed.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
The discovery of these ancient stardust grains in the Murchison meteorite provides physical evidence supporting the hypothesis that star formation in the galaxy occurred in bursts, challenging previous assumptions of a constant rate.
Story chain
6 events in this thread- Health & Science3h 19m agoThe Murchison meteorite, which fell in Victoria, Australia, in 1969, contains grains of silicon carbide formed around 7 billion years ago, predating the Sun by 2.5 billion years.Open article
- Currently Reading3h 19m agoGrains of silicon carbide found in the Murchison meteorite, which fell in 1969, are 7 billion years old and are the oldest solid material ever held in a human hand.
- Health & Science3h 19m agoIn 1969, a fireball broke over the Victorian town of Murchison and scattered carbon-rich stones across the paddocks, which contain grains of silicon carbide that condensed in dying stars roughly 7 billion years ago.Open article
- Health & Science3h 19m agoThe Murchison meteorite, which fell on an Australian town in 1969, contains grains of silicon carbide dating back roughly 7 billion years, making them older than the Sun and the most ancient solid material ever held in a human hand.Open article
- Health & Science3h 19m agoThe Murchison meteorite contains grains of silicon carbide formed around 7 billion years ago, making them older than the Sun, Earth, or anything else in this solar system.Open article
- Health & Science3h 19m agoGrains of stardust 7 billion years old, predating the Sun itself, were found inside the Murchison meteorite that fell in Victoria, Australia, in 1969.Open article