Isotope abundance anomalies and the early solar system (some) facts and (some) implications

Variations have been found in the isotopic composition of a number of chemical elements which appear to reflect primordial variations in space and/or time of the composition of the proto-solar nebula. The agreement with theoretical predictions is the first proof that (some of) the nucleosynthetic processes invoked by astrophysicists to explain the abundance pattern of nuclides in the solar system may indeed have happened. Data for xenon, oxygen, titanium and evidence for the former existence of now extinct 244Pu and 26Al are discussed in some detail, as well as implications from the presence of 26Al as an effective heat source in the early history of the solar system. (author)