Scientists say they have discovered a nearly 20 pound meteorite in Antarctica that contains some of the oldest materials in our entire solar system.
A meteorite that crashed to Earth in 2024 is giving NASA a rare glimpse into the days of our solar system.
By studying its composition, researchers are unlocking secrets about ancient water, the chemical changes that shaped early asteroids and the materials that may have helped create the conditions for life.
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Classified as a CM carbonaceous chondrite, this meteorite belongs to a group of space rocks known for being rich in carbon.
The image on the left captures a highly magnified view of ancient rock fragments embedded inside the meteorite, while the X-ray map on the right reveals the heavy sodium deposits left behind by ancient, salt-rich brines
(NASA/SETI)
According to NASA, “These primitive rocks preserve some of the oldest materials in the solar system, recording the chemical processes that shaped asteroids more than 4.5 billion years ago.”
Scientists learned that the rock does carry fundamental components for life.
The breakthrough began on July 16, 2024, when the meteorite landed on the property of a New Jersey amateur astronomer. Because of its sudden landing spot, the space rock officially became known as the Hillsborough meteorite.
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Given the homeowner’s background in astronomy, he instantly knew the rock’s significance and took immediate action to preserve it in foil and glass before it could face environmental contamination.
Additionally, because many people caught video of the meteorite streaking across the sky, researchers were able to track its trajectory and determine its likely point of origin.
This image shows the projected path of the Hillsborough meteorite and its falling fragments
(NASA/Marc Fries)
“When we have both a documented fireball and a quick recovery of its meteorite, we can learn not only what the rock is made of, but where it came from in the asteroid belt,” said Peter Jenniskens, a meteor astronomer at the SETI Institute and NASA’s Ames Research Center, in a NASA press statement.
Evidence found reveals that liquid, salty water once flowed through the parent asteroid.
By examining tiny cracks inside the rock, scientists found evidence of sodium deposits left behind by ancient, salt-rich brines that flowed through the asteroid billions of years ago.
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“Hillsborough marks the first time the salts have been identified in a CM carbonaceous chondrite meteorite, offering a new glimpse into the surfaces of the primitive asteroids that produced these meteorites,” NASA stated.
First image of the full Earth disc from the Meteosat Third Generation Imager. The first image from Meteosat Third Generation — Imager 1 (MTG-I1) reveals a level of detail about the weather over Europe and Africa not previously possible from 36 000 km above Earth. The higher-resolution images provided by the instruments on board give weather forecasters more information about the clouds cloaking much of Europe and visible in the equatorial region of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Sand and sediment in the waters off Italy are also visible, as well as dust or smog being carried from south Asia. This degree of detail is not possible from the instruments on the Meteosat Second Generation satellites. The image was captured at 11:50 UTC on 18 March 2023 by the Flexible Combined Imager on MTG-I1.
(EUMETSAT/ESA / NASA)
Researchers also found that the meteorite contains complex organic compounds, including amino acids, which are the raw chemical building blocks of biology.
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“It’s just more proof that the chemical building blocks of life could have been delivered — and are still being delivered — to Earth today by these carbonaceous asteroid fragments,” said Danny Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Glavin, a co-investigator on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, previously led the international team that analyzed organic samples brought back from the asteroid Bennu.
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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope completed its annual grand tour of the outer Solar System for 2021, including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Note: The planets are not shown to scale in this image. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team)
Ultimately, this newly discovered information plays a vital role in the continued understanding of how life could have started early in our solar system.
“If you follow the water through the solar system, you’re actually following life,” Mike Zolensky, a meteorite researcher at NASA Johnson and co-author of the study, said. “Following the history of water through the solar system is an essential part of understanding the origin of life.”
