On the chemical composition of the Moon, Jupiter, meteorites and Am stars

Abstract

If surface anomalies in the composition of the metallic-line A stars (Am stars) are due to a precipitation of planet-like bodies (planetoids) on them, then one should expect a correlation to exist between the overabundance of heavier-than-iron elements on these stars and their “standard” abundances in the solar system (since chondrites provide the “standard” level for these elements). However, an anticorrelation was revealed. Nevertheless, this fact supports the original suggestion on the origin of the metallicism of A stars, and can easily be explained within the author's hypothesis on the formation of the Sun from matter escaping from the proto-Jupiter. During the terminal stages of mass transfer, the matter was strongly depleted in refractories (forming the rocky core of Jupiter). Therefore the composition of the meteorites formed should not coincide with the primary composition of the matter. Thus the Sun's outer layers may also have a distorted composition. The author concludes that it is desirable to revise the “standard” abundances of elements heavier than iron. From a comparison of the surface composition of Am stars with the composition of lunar anorthosites and that of rocks in the upper zones of the Skaergaard intrusion (Greenland), the Am phenomenon may be seen to result from a precipitation of large geochemically differentiated planetoids onto a star. Such planetoids (including the Moon) condense in the cooled envelope of the primary component of a close binary stellar system.