Asteroid Ryugu – Image taken 20km on June 26, 2018, 870 m in diameter. Credit: Hayabusa2/JAXA
Great international collaboration is used
data-gt-translate-attributes”[{” attribute=””>Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, to examine grains collected from a near-Earth asteroid in order to improve our understanding of the evolution of our solar system.
A team of researchers from the University of Leicester utilized Diamond Light Source’s Nanoprobe beamline I14, to perform a chemical analysis of a fragment of the Ryugu asteroid using X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES). The detailed composition of the asteroid was studied by mapping out the chemical states of the elements within the asteroid material. Additionally, an electron microscope at Diamond’s electron Physical Science Imaging Centre (ePSIC) was used to examine the asteroid grains.
Julia Parker is the Principal Beamline Scientist for I14 at Diamond. She said: “The X-ray Nanoprobe allows scientists to examine the chemical structure of their samples at micron to nano lengthscales, which is complemented by the nano to atomic resolution of the imaging at ePSIC. It’s very exciting to be able to contribute to the understanding of these unique samples, and to work with the team at Leicester to demonstrate how the techniques at the beamline, and correlatively at ePSIC, can benefit future sample return missions.”
Image taken at E01 ePSIC of Ryugu serpentine and Fe oxide minerals. Credit: ePSIC/University of Leicester
The data collected at Diamond contributed to a wider study of the space weathering signatures on the asteroid. The pristine asteroid samples enabled the collaborators to explore how space weathering can alter the physical and chemical composition of the surface of carbonaceous asteroids like Ryugu.
The researchers discovered that the surface of Ryugu is dehydrated and that it is likely that space weathering is responsible. The findings of the study, recently published in Nature Astronomy, have led the authors to conclude that asteroids that appear dry on the surface may be water-rich, potentially requiring revision of our understanding of the abundances of asteroid types and the formation history of the asteroid belt.
Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid, around 900 meters in diameter, first discovered in 1999 within the asteroid belt between
The building blocks of Ryugu are remnants of interactions between water, minerals, and organics in the early Solar System prior to the formation of Earth. Understanding the composition of asteroids can help explain how the early solar system developed, and subsequently how the Earth formed. They may even help explain how life on Earth came about, with asteroids believed to have delivered much of the planet’s water as well as organic compounds such as
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