Moissanite
Moissanite is natural silicon carbide; meteoritic grains of it are among the best-studied stardust older than the Sun.
Moissanite is silicon carbide, SiC. It was named after the French chemist Henri Moissan, who identified tiny crystals of it in fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite from Meteor Crater in Arizona in 1893, at first mistaking them for diamond. Natural moissanite is very rare on Earth.
Its most important role in meteoritics is as presolar stardust. Primitive chondrites contain silicon carbide grains, mostly smaller than a few micrometres, that formed in the atmospheres of carbon-rich stars and exploded stars before the Solar System existed. Their isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, silicon and other elements differ wildly from Solar System values. By grouping grains by their isotopes, scientists have linked most of them to ageing low-mass stars and a few to supernovae.
These grains are found by dissolving the host meteorite in strong acids, which removes ordinary minerals and leaves the tough carbide behind. Murchison has been a rich source.
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