Samples from Ryugu prove the truly delicate and long-lived nature of the rubble-pile asteroid
Two new studies of samples brought back from the rubble-pile asteroid Ryugu by the Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 have found that the asteroid not only was never heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, it also contained dust grains older than the solar system itself.
The evidence from the first study, completed by Japanese scientists, suggested that:
- 1.Asteroid Ryugu accreted some components that originated in the outer Solar System and contained abundant water and organics. The asteroid then traveled to the inner Solar System.
- 2.Organics associated with coarse-grained phyllosilicates may serve as one of the potential sources of water and organics to the Earth.
The second study, using samples provided to American scientists, found two tiny dust grains that must have come from the material that existed before the formation of our solar system.
The team detected all the previously known types of presolar grains—including one surprise, a silicate that is easily destroyed by chemical processing that is expected to have occurred on the asteroid’s parent body. It was found in a less-chemically-altered fragment that likely shielded it from such activity.
This is not the first discovery of presolar grains, but their delicate existence in Ryugu confirms the conclusions of the first study, that Ryugu had to have formed in the outer solar system and then migrated inward over eons.
The second study also reviewed the make-up of the sample and concluded that Ryugu appears to most closely match the family of carbonaceous Ivuna-type (CI) chondrites, thought to be among the most primitive asteroids known, of which very few have been studied because of they rarely survive the journey through the Earth’s atmosphere.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Two new studies of samples brought back from the rubble-pile asteroid Ryugu by the Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 have found that the asteroid not only was never heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, it also contained dust grains older than the solar system itself.
The evidence from the first study, completed by Japanese scientists, suggested that:
- 1.Asteroid Ryugu accreted some components that originated in the outer Solar System and contained abundant water and organics. The asteroid then traveled to the inner Solar System.
- 2.Organics associated with coarse-grained phyllosilicates may serve as one of the potential sources of water and organics to the Earth.
The second study, using samples provided to American scientists, found two tiny dust grains that must have come from the material that existed before the formation of our solar system.
The team detected all the previously known types of presolar grains—including one surprise, a silicate that is easily destroyed by chemical processing that is expected to have occurred on the asteroid’s parent body. It was found in a less-chemically-altered fragment that likely shielded it from such activity.
This is not the first discovery of presolar grains, but their delicate existence in Ryugu confirms the conclusions of the first study, that Ryugu had to have formed in the outer solar system and then migrated inward over eons.
The second study also reviewed the make-up of the sample and concluded that Ryugu appears to most closely match the family of carbonaceous Ivuna-type (CI) chondrites, thought to be among the most primitive asteroids known, of which very few have been studied because of they rarely survive the journey through the Earth’s atmosphere.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Most of human literary history is about origin, and demise.
It is a great thing to have been able to discover pre-origin / pre-demise stuff.
Our horizons are closer than we imagine, or can determine in the moment.