✨As Tinker Bell tells us: "All you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of asteroid dust" ✨ That's definitely how that goes, right? Back in 2023, NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered to Earth the first U.S. asteroid sample collected in space. And our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has been studying it ever since! Scientists hoped that the sample—hailing from the asteroid Bennu—would provide insights into how water and organic molecules first reached Earth. Today, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History researchers announced what they found in the microscopic features on the asteroid fragments. And it’s kind of a big deal! They discovered traces of water-bearing sodium carbonate compounds—compounds have never been directly observed in any other asteroid or meteorite. https://s.si.edu/3EhC9sz Our scientists are sharing more about this groundbreaking discovery. 👇
“This is the kind of finding you hope you’re going to make on a mission.” – Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites and lead author on a new paper out today. New analysis of samples from the asteroid Bennu reveals that evaporating water left a briny broth where the elemental ingredients of life intermingled to create more complex structures like salts and minerals. Bennu’s parent asteroid, which formed around 4.5 billion years ago, was home to pockets of liquid water. This water evaporated and left behind brines that resemble the salty crusts of dry lakebeds on Earth; this is the first time that some of these compounds have been observed in extraterrestrial samples. The discovery suggests that extraterrestrial brines provide a crucial setting for the development of organic compounds. “We now know from Bennu that the raw ingredients of life were combining in really interesting and complex ways on Bennu’s parent body,” said McCoy. “We have discovered that next step on a pathway to life.” In addition to McCoy, Smithsonian-affiliated co-authors included Cari Corrigan, Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim Rose. Read more here: https://s.si.edu/3EgZz16
Mark Donahue
2mo
star dust! like neil tyson says. or Carl sagan.
Tech HR Strategy & Ops | Conservation Enthusiast | Award-Winning Teacher
2moAlex Grab So cool... dare I say, "out of this world"? Thinking of you!