Meteorites & Asteroids Archives

Artist impression of solar system formation. Presolar grains are tiny, solid grains of primitive solar system material that originated before the formation of the Sun. They have been found in many places, including interplanetary dust, meteorites, and even samples from the comet Wild-2 that were returned to Earth by NASA's Stardust mission. Image credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA/Lynette Cook via NASA Astrobiology

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Origin Of Moderately Volatile Elements In Earth

by Keith CowingMay 13, 2025May 13, 2025

The bulk silicate Earth (BSE) is depleted in moderately volatile elements, indicating Earth formed from a mixture of volatile-rich and -poor materials.

Panoramic view of the Chang’e-5 landing site. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

Analog Studies, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Interstellar, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Moon, Status Report

Polycyclic Aromatics In The Chang’E 5 Lunar Soils

by Keith CowingMay 4, 2025May 4, 2025

Polycyclic aromatics are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium and meteorites, yet the search for lunar polycyclic aromatics remains a significant challenge.

A, C 3D view of the sheet unit overlying the fragmented breccia unit at the eastern rim of the Ritchey crater, HiRISE image on HRSC DEM (architected from Fig. 1C, D). B, D The impactite stratigraphy at Aumühle outcrop, Ries crater (B, Germany) and Mistastin lake impact structure (D, Canada). Photo D by Cassandra Marion in 2021 at Coté Creek (https://craterexplorer.ca/mistastin-impact-crater/). -- Nature Communications via PubMed

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Impact events, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Hydrothermal Activity Generated By Impact Melt Emplacement On The Rim Of Ritchey Crater, Mars

by Keith CowingMay 3, 2025May 3, 2025

Impact-induced hydrothermal systems have the potential to sustain long-lived aqueous environments throughout the history of Mars, yet their nature and distribution are not well-understood.

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Conferences and Meetings, Impact events, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Conference: Impacts And Their role In The Origin And Evolution Of Life

by Keith CowingApril 28, 2025April 28, 2025

1-4 September 2025, Nördlingen, Germany We are pleased to share an exciting invitation to the conference, “Impacts and their role in the origin and evolution of life“ which will be […]

In carbon-containing meteorites, impacts create extremely hot carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases (yellow). Kurosawa says: “We found that the momentum of the ensuing explosion is enough to eject the highly shocked rock material (red) into space. Such explosions occur on carbon-rich meteorites (left), but not on carbon-poor ones (right).” The team thus concluded that carbon-containing meteorites are no less shocked, but that, in fact, the evidence is simply removed. Credit: KUROSAWA Kosuke

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release, Sample Return

Evidence Blasted Into Space: Mystery Why Some Meteorites Look Less Shocked Solved

by Keith CowingApril 27, 2025April 26, 2025

Carbon-containing meteorites look like they had less severe impacts than those without carbon because the evidence was blasted into space by gases produced during the impact. The Kobe University discovery […]

Schematic outlining the process through which H could be sequestered into ECs. Firstly, submicron FeS grains that become coated in dust particles in the solar nebula are transformed into pyrrhotite at low temperatures in a high fS2 environment (e.g. Zolensky and Thomas, 1995). Next, during flash heating events, a sacrificial catalysis reaction with H2 at produces H2S (Cabedo et al., 2024), which is trapped in silicate melt that sits around the grains of sulphide formed when the dust grains melt. Finally, this assembles rapidly cools, produce sulfide grains that are coated in silicate glass, which hosts trapped H2S. This process can repeat, with further dust accumulating onto the surface of the Si-rich glass after it first forms. During/following low temperature sulfidation, accretion can occur to form planetesimals. This cycle results in pyrrhotite existing on a sub-micron length scale surrounded by Hsingle bondS bearing silicate glassy material, consistent with our S-XANES measurements. -- Icarus

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

The Source Of Hydrogen In Earth’s Building Blocks

by Keith CowingApril 21, 2025April 21, 2025

Due to their isotopic similarity to terrestrial rocks across a range of elements, the meteorite group that is thought to best represent Earth’s building blocks is the enstatite chondrites (ECs).

The meteorite used in this study—LAR12252—when it was discovered in Antarctica. Credit: The ANSMET (ANtarctic Search for METeorites) Program, Case Western Reserve University and University of Utah.

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Press Release, Sample Return

Evidence That Overturns Theories Of The Origin Of Water On Earth

by Keith CowingApril 17, 2025September 18, 2025

University of Oxford researchers have helped overturn the popular theory that water on Earth originated from asteroids bombarding its surface. Instead, the material which built our planet was far richer […]

In 2016, scientists discovered that water is released from the Moon during meteor showers. When a speck of comet debris strikes the moon, it vaporizes on impact, creating a shock wave in the lunar soil. With a sufficiently large impactor, this shock wave can breach the soil’s dry upper layer and release water molecules from a hydrated layer below. NASA’s LADEE spacecraft detected these water molecules as they entered the tenuous lunar atmosphere. Download here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20278/ NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Moon, Press Release, Space Weather & Heliophysics

The Solar Wind Can Apparently Make Water On The Lunar Surface

by Keith CowingApril 16, 2025April 16, 2025

Scientists have hypothesized since the 1960s that the Sun is a source of ingredients that form water on the Moon. When a stream of charged particles known as the solar […]

Orbital distribution of 7,982 impacts detected by EDMOND, CAMS, GMN, FRIPON, and EFN networks. Each impact is estimated to be equal to or greater than 10 g (diameter ⪆2 cm) at the top of the atmosphere. Orbital distribution is normalized to the impact probability, as calculated using the method of Pokorn`y and Vokrouhlick`y [96]. Despite this, there still exists a concentration of meteoroids on orbits with q∼1 au -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Perihelion History And Atmospheric Survival As Primary Drivers Of The Earth’s Meteorite Record

by Keith CowingApril 16, 2025

Models predict that more than half of all impacting meteoroids should be carbonaceous, reflecting the abundance of carbon-rich asteroids in the main belt and near-Earth space.

A meteorite entering Earth's atmosphere -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Carbonaceous Meteorites Are Fragile

by Keith CowingApril 15, 2025April 15, 2025

An international team of researchers may have answered one of space science’s long-running questions – and it could change our understanding of how life began.