Asteroid Bennu is full of surprises, each of which helps scientists get closer to answering the question of the origin of life. The latest studies of Bennu samples show that the asteroid almost looks like it could be home to an old candy store, carrying sticky space gum, sugar and an absurd amount of dust.
Three studies have shed light on the complexity of Bennu's surface, providing insight into where Bennu came from and how it acquired the earliest ingredients of life. By studying the clues hidden inside Bennu, scientists can begin to understand what happened in the early days of the solar system and even what allowed life to arise on Earth.
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Let's start life with sugar
In one study published in NatureResearchers have discovered compounds in Bennu samples that may indicate the molecular functioning of early life forms. Two sugars were discovered: the five-carbon ribose and the six-carbon glucose, the latter of which had never before been observed in extraterrestrial samples.
Although these sugars are not signs of life, they now join several others building blocks of life — such as amino acids, nucleic bases and carboxylic acids — that were previously found in Bennu samples. Thanks to sugar and other building blocks, researchers are now closer to understanding what role RNA may have played in the origins of life.
While ribose helps form the backbone of RNA, the backbone of DNA instead relies on the sugar deoxyribose, which gives DNA increased stability compared to RNA.
Notably, however, the researchers did not detect deoxyribose in the Bennu samples. This may indicate that ribose was more abundant than deoxyribose in the early solar system; it also supports the theory that early life forms used RNA as a basic molecule to store information and maintain themselves through chemical reactions.
The Strangeness of Bennu's Space Gum
Bennu's surface gave researchers another pleasant surprise; study published in Nature Astronomy have revealed the presence of an ancient tar-like substance in samples of Bennu, a material that has never been observed before.
The mysterious gum, composed of polymer-like materials rich in nitrogen and oxygen, appears to have become water-resistant over time. It survived all the changes the asteroid went through, even when Bennu's parent body was heated enough to host an aquatic environment.
“With this strange substance, we may well be seeing one of the earliest material changes that has occurred in this rock,” Sandford said. “On this primitive asteroid that formed in the early days of the solar system, we are seeing events close to the beginning of the solar system,” study author Scott Sanford, an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center, said in a statement. statement.
To get a better look at the material and its strange consistency, the researchers took tiny carbon-rich grains into Define samples and shaved them with a beam of charged particles so that they became a thousand times thinner than a human hair.
The translucent material, such as used rubber or soft plastic, was pliable, but at the same time it was strangely brittle due to exposure to radiation in space. Researchers say it has parallels with polyurethane, a plastic material, but has a more complex mixture of elements.
Filled with supernova dust
The latest study, also published in Nature Astronomylooked at grains that existed before the solar system and existed in two different types of rocks from the Bennu samples. These presolar stardust grains are commonly found in trace amounts in meteorites and originate from supernovae and novae.
The researchers found that Bennu samples contained six times more supernova dust than any previously studied cosmic material. This may indicate that Bennu's parent body formed in an area filled dust dying stars.
The study also found that while Bennu has undergone many fluid-induced changes, its samples still contain areas of materials that are not as radically altered, which will continue to be an important target for researchers.
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