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Description
It is believed that ^26^Al, a short-lived (t_1/2_=0.73Ma) and now extinct radionuclide, was uniformly distributed in the nascent solar system (SS) with the initial ^26^Al/^27^Al ratio of ~5.2x10^-5^, suggesting an external, stellar origin rather than local, solar source. However, the stellar source of ^26^Al and the manner in which it was injected into the SS remain controversial: the ^26^Al could have been produced by an asymptotic giant branch star, a supernova, or a Wolf-Rayet star and injected either into the protosolar molecular cloud, protosolar cloud core, or protoplanetary disk. Corundum (Al_2_O_3_) is predicted to be the first condensate from a cooling gas of solar composition. Here we show that micron-sized corundum condensates from ^16^O-rich ({Delta}^17^O~-25%) gas of solar composition recorded heterogeneous distribution of ^26^Al at the birth of the SS: the inferred initial ^26^Al/^27^Al ratio ranges from ~6.5x10^-5^ to <2x10^-6^; 52% of corundum grains measured are ^26^Al-poor. Abundant ^26^Al-poor, ^16^O-rich refractory objects include grossite- and hibonite-rich calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in CH (high metal abundance and high iron concentration) chondrites, platy hibonite crystals in CM (Mighei-like) chondrites, and CAIs with fractionation and unidentified nuclear effects CAIs chondrites. Considering the apparently early and short duration (<0.3Ma) of condensation of refractory ^16^O-rich solids in the SS, we infer that ^26^Al was injected into the collapsing protosolar molecular cloud and later homogenized in the protoplanetary disk. The apparent lack of correlation between ^26^Al abundance and O-isotope composition of corundum grains constrains the stellar source of ^26^Al in the SS.
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