THE solar system may be older than we think it is. This claim is
based on new studies of rubidium in massive stars. One way to
work out the age of the solar system is to use radioactive
dating of the heavy element rubidium in meteorites, assuming
that the meteorites started out with the same level of the metal
as the early solar nebula, from which our solar system formed.
If the amount of rubidium in the solar nebula was higher than
previously thought, then we could be underestimating the age of
the solar system. Now researchers have found a clue that this
might be the case. Theoretical models predict that rubidium
forms in stars between four and eight times as massive as the
sun. Until now, though, nobody had seen rubidium in such stars.
"Astronomers were extremely frustrated that this hadn't been
confirmed," says Pedro García-Hernández at the European ... To
continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to
all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.