Ingredients for life revealed in meteorites that fell to Earth

Two wayward space rocks, which separately crashed to Earth in 1998 after circulating in our solar system’s asteroid belt for billions of years, share something else in common: the ingredients for life. They are the first meteorites found to contain both liquid water and a mix of complex organic compounds such as hydrocarbons and amino acids.

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Extraterrestrial Hypatia stone rattles solar system status quo

In 2013, researchers announced that a pebble found in south-west Egypt, was definitely not from Earth. By 2015, other research teams had announced that the ‘Hypatia’ stone was not part of any known types of meteorite or comet, based on noble gas and nuclear probe analyses.

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Meteorite’s Origins Point to Possible Undiscovered Asteroid

A new analysis of a meteorite called Bunburra Rockhole has revealed that the rock originated from a previously unknown parent asteroid, allowing scientists to understand the geology of the parent body.

The parent body was differentiated, meaning that it was large enough to separate into a core,

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Skye high impact reveals 60-million-year-old meteorite strike in Scotland

Geologists exploring volcanic rocks on Scotland’s Isle of Skye found something out-of-this-world instead: ejecta from a previously unknown, 60 million-year-old meteorite impact. The discovery, the first meteorite impact described within the British Paleogene Igneous Province (BPIP), opens questions about the impact and its possible connection to Paleogene volcanic activity across the North Atlantic.

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Ceres’ bright spots suggest the dwarf planet is geologically active

New observations and analysis of the hundreds of bright spots on Ceres surface suggest the dwarf planet is a dynamic, geologically active place.

Scientists have struggled to account for the highly reflective spots on Ceres’ surface, but thanks to images captured by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft,

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Research shows why meteroids explode before they reach Earth

Our atmosphere is a better shield from meteoroids than researchers thought, according to a new paper published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

When a meteor comes hurtling toward Earth, the high-pressure air in front of it seeps into its pores and cracks,

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B612 Asteroid Institute provides valuable analysis to discovery of First Interstellar Object

Within days of the announcement by NASA’s Minor Planet Center of the discovery of the first-ever interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, B612’s new Asteroid Institute began a collaborative effort that led to significant analysis about the discovery.

Bryce Bolin, a senior researcher at the Asteroid Institute as well as a DIRAC Institute Fellow,

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A Familiar-Looking Messenger from another Solar System

The visit of the interstellar interloper 1I/2017 U1, recently spotted streaking through the Solar System, gives the people of Earth their first chance to study up close an object from another planetary system. In a study carried out with the WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands,

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Unlucky dinosaurs: Scientists say asteroid had 13 percent chance of triggering extinction

When an asteroid came barreling into Earth some 66 million years ago, it wasn’t necessarily a guarantee that life on planet Earth would be drastically altered — that 75 percent of all plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs, would disappear.

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Astronomers Complete First International Asteroid Tracking Exercise

An international team of astronomers led by NASA scientists successfully completed the first global exercise using a real asteroid to test global response capabilities.

Planning for the so-called “TC4 Observation Campaign” started in April, under the sponsorship of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

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about near Earth objects in the UK.

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