These chunks of rock could not withstand the harsh impacts and intense heat involved in the creation of the planets and moons of the solar system. “Instead, the meteorite has been out there, past Mars, untouched, since before any planets were created,” said Shaun Fowler, a microscope expert at Loughborough University. Live Science, Monday (26/7).
It said the space rock was carbonaceous chondrite, a rare category that comprises only 4 to 5 percent of the meteorites found on Earth. This meteorite, originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and formed early in the history of the solar system.
Interestingly, the rock often contains organic compounds, or carbon carriers, including amino acids that form the basic building blocks of life. This raises the question of whether these meteorites have any clue as to how living things first appeared in the solar system.
The stone is small, charcoal-colored and brittle, like a crumbling lump of concrete. According to Fowler, the meteorite is made mostly of minerals such as olivine and phyllosilicates, as well as round grains called chondrules, most of which are liquid beads and were incorporated into the asteroid when it first formed.
“But its composition is different to anything you find on Earth and potentially unlike any other meteorite we have found. This asteroid may contain some previously unknown chemical or physical structure that has not been seen in any other recorded meteorite sample,” Fowler said.
To study it, researchers at Loughborough University and EAARO used electron microscopy to study the surface of meteorites down to nanometers (millionths of a meter), as well as techniques called vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. This effort allowed them to study these chemicals.
“At this stage, we’ve learned a lot about it, but we’re only just scratching the surface,” Sandie Dann, a chemist at Loughborough University, said in a statement.
– .
