https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-025-01554-0
Review
Recent progress on interstellar radionuclides on Earth and the Moon
1
Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University, 2601, Canberra, Australia
2
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and Isotope Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01328, Dresden, Germany
3
Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics, TUD Dresden University of Technology, 01069, Dresden, Germany
4
Centre for Accelerator Science, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2232, Sydney, Australia
5
Faculty of Physics, Isotope Physics, University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
6
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, University of Bonn, 53121, Bonn, Germany
a d.koll@hzdr.de, dominik.koll@anu.edu.au
Received:
25
November
2024
Accepted:
28
March
2025
Published online:
12
May
2025
The detection of interstellar radionuclides in geological archives provides insights into nucleosynthesis in stars and stellar explosions as well as interstellar medium dynamics in the Local Bubble and the Local Interstellar Cloud. In this work, current projects to detect interstellar radionuclides with accelerator mass spectrometry will be reviewed. These projects aim to address unsolved questions regarding the timing and the origin of the influxes and to establish new radionuclides for future searches. For the first time, experimental evidence for an inhomogeneous deposition of interstellar Fe on Earth will be presented and another potential source for
Fe on Earth and the Moon, primary galactic cosmic rays, will be introduced.
© The Author(s) 2025
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