MOON SOIL READS AS COSMIC TIME CAPSULE FOR EXPLODING STARS

HONOLULU, Sept. 1 -- The University of Hawaii issued the following news release:

When a star reaches its final stages of life, it ends in a bright and powerful explosion called a supernova and scatters material across the universe. A new study led by a University of Hawai'i at Manoa researcher discovered that the Moon's mixed-up soil can be read as a cosmic time capsule for exploding stars.

Emily Costello, research scientist at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in the UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, and co-authors developed a mathematical model to decode the history recorded in the lunar surface.

"Deep-sea deposits on Earth preserve interstellar debris, but only back about 10 million years," C...