Japan reveals first image of asteroid “Ryugu” to the world!

Scientists have confirmed that the black sand dust found in a capsule brought to Earth by a Japanese space probe, after opening it on Monday, came from the distant asteroid Ryugu.

The discovery comes a week after the Hayabusa-2 probe dropped its capsule, which entered the atmosphere in a trail of light before landing in the Australian desert and then transported to Japan.

And the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) released a photo of small deposits of material inside the canister – a first look at the unprecedented results of the unmanned probe, which lasted for six years.

JAXA

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Agency officials said dust was found in the capsule’s outer shell, in hopes that more material samples could be found when opening the inner container, a delicate task.

“JAXA has confirmed that samples taken from the asteroid Ryugu are inside the sample container. We were able to confirm the presence of particles resembling black sand which are said to be derived from the asteroid Ryugu,” said declared the agency.

Hayabusa-2 has set off about 300 million kilometers from Earth to collect samples, which scientists hope will help shed light on the origin of life and the formation of the universe.

The probe collected both surface dust and original material beneath the surface, which was excavated by launching a “collider” into the asteroid.

Half of the Hayabusa-2 samples will be shared between JAXA, NASA and other international organizations, and the rest will be kept for future study as analytical technology advances.

JAXA / Twitter

But the work of the probe is not yet finished, which will now begin an expanded mission targeting two new asteroids.

Source: ScienceAlert

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