Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1971
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1971natur.234..291c&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 234, Issue 5327, pp. 291-292 (1971).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
17
Scientific paper
THE prospects for gamma-ray-line astronomy associated with the anticipated occurrence of radioactivity in interstellar space have already been outlined1-4. Each successive clarification of these possibilities has resulted from major clarifications in the theory of nucleosynthesis, and in this communication I wish to report another step. The supposition that the elements are coproduced in exploding stars has been greatly strengthened by quantitative success5 in the past few years. A new development within that general picture now suggests that detectable amounts of 60Fe exist in nearby explosive remnants. 60Fe has a half-life τ1/2 = 3 × 105 yr, and the subsequent decay of its 60Co daughter is accompanied by a two-gamma-ray cascade with energies Eγ=1.17 MeV and 1.33 MeV (ref. 6). This pair of equal-intensity lines is the signature that can identify 60Fe in interstellar space. The other important feature is, of course, its half-life, which is long enough to allow the radioactivity to persist long after (in terms of recorded history) the explosive event.
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