Perovskite
Perovskite is a calcium-titanium oxide found as tiny grains in CAIs, one of the earliest condensates.
Perovskite is a calcium titanium oxide, CaTiO3. It gives its name to a whole family of compounds with the same crystal arrangement, including materials used in modern solar cells.
In meteorites, perovskite forms tiny grains in calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions, usually inside melilite or hibonite. Titanium is a highly refractory element, meaning it condenses at very high temperatures, so perovskite is among the minerals expected to appear first as hot solar gas cooled. Its presence marks a CAI as an extremely early, high-temperature product of the solar nebula.
Perovskite tends to concentrate rare earth elements and other refractory trace elements, which makes it valuable for chemical studies of how the first solids formed. Because the grains are often just a few micrometres across, they are studied with electron microprobes and ion probes rather than ordinary microscopes.
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