令人驚訝的小行星樣本顯示Bennu可能起源於海洋世界 (2/2)

Recently CNN news reported the following:

Surprising asteroid sample reveals Bennu may have originated from an ocean world (2/2)

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

 4 minute read

Updated 3:45 PM EDT, Thu June 27, 2024

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Cosmic time capsules

The rocks collected from Bennu represent a time capsule from the early days of the solar system dating back more than 4.5 billion years.

“The sample we returned is the largest reservoir of unaltered asteroid material on Earth right now,” Lauretta said.

Astronomers believe that space rocks such as asteroids and comets may have served as ancient messengers in our solar system.

“This means asteroids such as this may have played a key role in delivering water and the building blocks of life to Earth,” said study coauthor Nick Timms, OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis team member and associate professor in Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, in a statement.

If these smaller rocky bodies were carrying water, minerals and other elements and crashed into Earth as it was forming billions of years ago, they could have helped set the stage for life to begin on our planet.

“These findings underscore the importance of collecting and studying material from asteroids like Bennu — especially low-density material that would typically burn up upon entering Earth’s atmosphere,” Lauretta said. “This material holds the key to unraveling the intricate processes of solar system formation and the prebiotic chemistry that could have contributed to life emerging on Earth.”

The wealth of material collected from the asteroid means that more labs around the world will receive their own pieces of the sample to study.

“The Bennu samples are tantalizingly beautiful extraterrestrial rocks,” said co-lead study author Harold Connolly Jr., OSIRIS-REx mission sample scientist and chair of the department of geology at Rowan University’s School of Earth & Envrionment in Glassboro, New Jersey, in a statement. “Each week, analysis by the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team provides new and sometimes surprising findings that are helping place important constraints on the origin and evolution of Earth-like planets.”

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宇宙時間囊

從 Bennu 收集的岩石代表了太陽系早期的時間囊，其歷史可以追溯到 45 億年前。

Lauretta 說: 「我們收回來的樣本是目前地球上最大的,未改變的小行星物質庫」。

天文學家認為，小行星和彗星等太空岩石可能是我們太陽系中的古代使者。

研究合著者、OSIRIS-Rex 的樣本分析小組成員、Curtin 大學地球與行星學院副教授 Nick Timms在一聲明中說: 「這意味著像這樣的小行星, 可能在向地球輸送水和生命的組成部分方面發揮了關鍵作用」。

如果這些較小的岩石體攜帶著水、礦物質和其他元素，並在數十億年前當地球形成時撞擊它，這可能有助於為我們星球上生命的開始奠定基礎。

Lauretta說： “這些發現強調了收集和研究 Bennu 這樣的小行星物質的重要性 - 尤其是低密度物質，這些物質通常會在進入地球大氣層時燃燒”; “這種材料掌握著關鍵去解開太陽系形成的複雜過程, 和可能有助於地球上出現生命的益生元化學。”

從小行星收集到的豐富材料, 意味著世界各地更多的實驗室將收到給自己的樣本碎片進行研究。

該研究的聯合主要作者、OSIRIS-REx 任務樣本科學家、新澤西州 Glassboro 的 Rowan大學地球與環境學院地質系主任 Harold Connolly Jr. 說: 「Bennu 樣本是極其美麗的地外岩石」。 「每週，OSIRIS-REx 樣本分析小組的分析都會提供新的、有時令人驚訝的發現，這些發現有助於對類似地球行星的起源和演化設定出重要的條件限制」。

So, an early analysis of a sample collected from the asteroid Bennu suggests that the space rock has an unexpectedly water-rich past — and it may have even splintered off from an ancient ocean world. Probably, the US will share the material collected from this asteroid with labs around the world for studying so as to shed light on the origin of evolution of the Earth. Previously, a  similar mission has been done by Japan to collect sample from the asteroid Ryugu and send back the sample to to Earth in December 2020.