World famous Carbonaceous Chondrite / Research Suggests that NWA 2364 Contains the Oldest Solid Matter Ever Dated in our Solar System!

Cross section of ancient CAI containing a Chondritic matrux inside of it.

As you may have read in the World's press, the carbonaceous meteorite known as 'NWA 2364' has been used to re-date the age of our Solar system! According to research published in Nature Geoscience NWA 2364 was found to contain the oldest solid matter ever dated in our Solar system and has pushed back the estimated age of the Solar system by up to 1.9 million years! The age obtained for one NWA 2364 CAI (calcium aluminum inclusion), is 4568.2 million years or 4.5682 billion years! This estimate significantly increases the estimated age for our Solar System by between 300,000 and 1,900,000 years and is Scientifically important because it suggests that there may have been a nearby Supernova explosion near the time of the birth of our Solar System. This extraordinary chondrite has been officially classified as a CV3 (shock level 2) and is a visually stunning meteorite full of colorful chondrules and CAIs. NWA 2364 is a very special CV3 in many ways. It contains enormous, Type B Calcium, Aluminum Inclusions (Type B CAIs). It is one of these inclusions that is research found to be the oldest solid matter ever found in our Solar system. Some of these CAIs appear to be spherical and within some of these spherical Type B CAIs there is chondritic material present (see photo below). This is an incredible discovery if the CAIs truely are spherical as it suggests that the current model for the formation of CAIs could be wrong. According to most theories, CAIs were formed prior to their incorporation into a chondritic matrix. If this model is correct then it is very difficult to account for spherical CAIs containing chondritic material within them. NWA 2364 consists of one large and several small pieces. The total weight of NWA 2364 is just 1493 grams and we own all of the NWA 2364 available for sale.

Here are URLs to some of the research on this meteorite (just cut and past into your browser or if it is no longer available paste it into www.archive.org):

https://web.archive.org/web/20100824161312/http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo941.html

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2009/pdf/2184.pdf

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1756.pdf

AND here is some of the PRESS from around the World:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/100823-oldest-solar-system-two-million-years-older-science

https://web.archive.org/web/20100823213856/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38807350/ns/technology_and_science-space/

https://web.archive.org/web/20100825174651/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/scientists-age-solar-system-by-2m-years/story-e6frg8y6-1225908739042

https://web.archive.org/web/20100825080823/http://news.discovery.com/space/solar-system-age.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20100823044756/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3660/solar-system-now-two-million-years-older

https://web.archive.org/web/20100827120434/http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=meteorite-nugget-pushes-back-age-of-2010-08-23

https://web.archive.org/web/20100826060920/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/43563

https://web.archive.org/web/20100825222548/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7958566/Solar-system-two-million-years-older-than-first-thought.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20100826074828/http://www.lenta.ru/news/2010/08/23/age/

http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/0,1518,713250,00.html