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According to a new study, a piece of comet, which would be between 3 and 3.5 million years old, would have been found inside a meteorite and could contain the building blocks of life.
The researchers noted that the meteorite had been found in the LaPaz ice field in Antarctica, adding that they were surprised to find that the tiny sample of the comet was intact.
"Because this sample of cometary building block material has been swallowed by an asteroid and preserved inside this meteorite, it is protected from the ravages of the penetration of the atmosphere into the Earth", said Larry Nittler of the Carnegie Institution for Science. "It allowed us to take a look at materials that would not have survived to reach the surface of our planet, thus allowing us to understand the chemistry of the early solar system."
The arrow in this view of the LaPaz meteorite indicates where scientists have found the carbon-rich comet fragment. The colors are produced by the polarized light that shines through a thin slice of the meteorite; the grid lines are spaced one millimeter apart. (Credit: Carles Moyano-Cambero / Institute of Space Sciences, Barcelona)
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"The existence of this cometary microxenolith [interloping minerals] supports the concept of a radially internal transport of the outer protoplanetary disk materials in the CR chondrite reservoir during the formation of planetesimals ", summarizes the summary of the study." In addition, the H-isotopic composition of the clast suggests a temporal evolution of organic isotopic compositions in the disk region that forms comets. "
The study was published in the scientific journal Nature.
The meteorite, known as LaPaz Icefield 02342, belongs to "a class of primitive carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that have undergone minimal changes" since its formation more than 4.5 billion years ago, apart from the orbit of Jupiter, according to scientist Jemma Davidson of the University of Arizona State.
These types of space rocks previously contained organic compounds, water and even amino acids and nucleic bases, basic elements of protein and DNA, reported Live Science.
The part of the comet found inside the meteorite is exceptionally small, with only 0.1 millimeter in diameter, but its importance far exceeds its reduced size.
The carbon-rich fragment from which comets are constructed is colored red in this SEM image. The scale bar indicates its size. (Larry Nittler / Carnegie Institution for Science)
"The primitive meteorites provide a snapshot of the early solar system that we can study in the lab," Davidson said in a statement. "The LaPaz meteorite is a good example because it has undergone minimal terrestrial alteration."
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"When I saw the first electronic images of this carbon-rich material, I knew we were looking for something very rare.It was one of those exciting times for which you live as a than scientist, "added Davidson.
The presence of the comet inside LaPaz Icefield 02342 and its pristine nature can reveal information about the beginnings of the solar system and the formation of planets.
"Discoveries like this demonstrate how important it is to recover valuable meteorites such as LaPaz from Antarctica," Davidson said. "We never know what secrets they will reveal."
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