“Strange” Molybdenum Isotopes Found in Iron Meteorites

In 1991 Qi-Lu reported that isotopes of molybdenum retained nucleogenetic isotopic anomalies from the reactions that made them, even in massive iron meteorites [Qi-Lu, Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Tokyo, 1991]. This finding, later confirmed by others [ Nature 415 (2002) 881], shows that iron meteorites formed directly from the iron-rich region of SN debris, not by geochemical differentiation of an interstellar mix of elements.