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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Simulating Imaging of Large Scale Radio Arrays on the Lunar Surface
Published on: July 30, 2020
Interstellar ^{60}Fe on the Surface of the Moon
L Fimiani1, D L Cook2, T Faestermann1
1Physik Department, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
Abstract:
A dying massive star ends in a supernova explosion ejecting a large fraction of its mass into the interstellar medium. If this happens nearby, part of the ejecta might end on Solar System bodies and, in fact, radioactive ^{60}Fe has been detected on the Pacific ocean floor in about 2 Ma old layers. Here, we report on the detection of this isotope also in lunar samples, originating presumably from the same event. The concentration of the cosmic ray produced isotope ^{53}Mn, measured in the same samples, proves the supernova origin of the ^{60}Fe. From the ^{60}Fe concentrations found we deduce a reliable value for the local interstellar fluence in the range of 1×10^{8} at/cm^{2}. Thus, we obtain constraints on the recent and nearby supernova(e).
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