Latest news with #Bennu
The Guardian
20-04-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘It blew us away': how an asteroid may have delivered the vital ingredients for life on Earth
Several billion years ago, at the dawn of the solar system, a wet, salty world circled our sun. Then it collided, catastrophically, with another object and shattered into pieces. One of these lumps became the asteroid Bennu whose minerals, recently returned to Earth by the US robot space probe OSIRIS-REx, have now been found to contain rich levels of complex chemicals that are critical for the existence of life. 'There were things in the Bennu samples that completely blew us away,' said Prof Sara Russell, cosmic mineralogist at the Natural History Museum in London, and a lead author of a major study in Nature of the Bennu minerals. 'The diversity of the molecules and minerals preserved are unlike any extraterrestrial samples studied before.' Results from this and other missions will form a central display at a Natural History Museum's exhibition, Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?, which opens on 16 May. It will be a key chance for the public to learn about recent developments in the hunt for life on other worlds, said Russell. As the exhibition will reveal, the basic chemical building blocks for life can be found in other objects in the solar system such as meteorites. However, the material from Bennu, which is named after an ancient Egyptian mythological bird, have been found to be particularly rich in these deposits. 'Its parent world clearly had underground lakes of brine, and when these evaporated they left behind salts that resemble those found in dry lake beds on Earth,' said Russell. In addition, phosphates, ammonia and more than a dozen protein-building amino acids that are present in life forms on Earth – as well as the five nucleobase building blocks that make up RNA and DNA – were found in the samples brought back by OSIRIS-REx. 'These strongly suggest that asteroids similar to Bennu crashed on to Earth, bringing crucial ingredients that led to the appearance of life here,' she added. Scientists do not believe life evolved on Bennu itself but do think other asteroids like it might have supplied other worlds with the basic ingredients for life. On Earth, with its warm, stable environment, this led to the first appearance of reproducing organisms more than 3.7 billion years ago. It remains to be seen if they appeared on other promising worlds such as Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, that include Europa, Ganymede, Titan and Enceladus. These are now the subject of a number of missions that will feature in the exhibition and include two probes now heading for Jupiter's ice-covered moons Europa and Ganymede, which are known to possess liquid water oceans. In addition, the UK-built Rosalind Franklin robot rover is scheduled to land on Mars in 2029 and will drill deep into its soil, seeking evidence of life. In the past, samples of extraterrestrial rocks made available for study have been limited mainly to meteorites, pieces of the moon brought back by astronauts and robot probes, and lumps of Mars that were blasted towards Earth when large objects struck the red planet and blew debris into space – with some eventually falling on to our world as Martian meteorites. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to touch samples of lunar and Martian material as well as a meteorite that landed on our planet after breaking off from an asteroid. Intriguingly, this rock is older than the Earth itself. 'This is going to be a blockbuster,' said Sinead Marron, the museum's senior exhibitions manager. OSIRIS-REx brought back 120gm of Bennu dust to Earth, and the museum has been given around 200mg to study, said Russell. 'When we first opened the capsule, we saw this black dust everywhere, with white particles in it. We thought it might be contaminated. But it turned out to be a compound of phosphorus we have not seen in meteorites but which is absolutely crucial to the development of life. I was astonished.' The prospects that life might exist elsewhere in the universe made headlines last week when it was announced that observations of the exoplanet K2-18b by the James Webb space telescope had revealed the chemical fingerprints of two compounds that, on Earth, are only known to be produced by life. On their own, the chemicals, dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), do not amount to proof of alien biological activity but they have boosted hopes that we are not alone in the universe. Conclusively proving that life exists on distant worlds outside our solar system will be extremely hard, scientists acknowledge – short of a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence announcing its existence. By contrast, alien lifeforms within our solar system will be easier to collect and study and may prove, one day, that life on other worlds does indeed exist. 'What we would do about such a discovery is a different matter,' Marron said. 'One of the things we will be asking exhibition visitors to think about is how we would treat life if we found it on Mars or another world. Would we stay away from it or try to interact with it? 'Or would we try to eat it, like we eat lifeforms with whom we share this planet? Such questions about alien life help us reflect on the ways we engage with other forms of life in our own world.'
Boston Globe
17-04-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
The Town and The City Festival in Lowell, Tucson's new Astro Trail, and a watch geared to runners
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Sign up for Tucson's new (and free) Astro Trail guide and use it to explore the area's stunning night sky preserves and other astronomical attractions, including the newly reopened Kitt Peak National Observatory (pictured here). Handout Advertisement THERE Explore Tucson's new Astro Trail Visit observatories, dark sky preserves, science centers, a planetarium, and numerous other space-related sites along greater Tucson's new Astro Trail. The Tucson area, which has the headquarters for Dark Sky International (formerly the International Dark Sky Association), has been known as a stargazer's haven ever since regional officials enacted light pollution ordinances in the 1970s. Sign up for the new free Astro Trail guide and use it to explore the area's stunning night sky views and astronomical attractions. Highlights include the Pima Air and Space Museum, which is one of the largest non-government-funded aviation and space museums in the world; the newly reopened Kitt Peak National Observatory, which is home to one of the largest arrays of optical and radio telescopes in the world; the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, which recently opened its new Universe of Science exhibit, focusing on the human brain, a monsoon storm, and deep space; and Saguaro National Park, one of only two national parks to receive an Urban Night Sky Place designation. Also see a sample of the Bennu asteroid at the Gem and Mineral Museum (one of only three public places where a piece of this asteroid can be viewed), visit the newly reopened and renovated Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory Visitor and Science Center, and enjoy immersive stargazing programs and astronomy camps through the Mount Lemmon Skycenter, which offers access to two of the largest public telescopes in the southwest. Sign up for the guide online and then receive a mobile passport (through a text link) that lists all exhibits, attractions, and astronomical-related destinations, and discounts to local restaurants and sites. Advertisement Amazfit's Cheetah Pro GPS watch is made for runners. Handout EVERYWHERE A watch geared to runners Whether you're running on routes near home or exploring a new destination — for fun or training — check out Amazfit's Cheetah Pro watch, which is made for runners. The lightweight watch has exceptional GPS technology that helps track your movements when running through forests or cities with tall buildings. Download color maps and routes from the Zepp app so you can accurately navigate new runs even in offline mode. Also store your favorite route and then track your improvement on that route over time. The watch tracks heart rate, stress, sleep, and oxygen saturation so you can train better and run smarter. It also offers AI-powered coaching that provides personalized training input to help you improve over time, and adjusts your workout schedule each week based on your progress (so you don't overtrain and to help you reach your race or training goals). Create templates on the watch for interval training and use those to easily guide you through workouts. Store songs on the Cheetah Pro so you can run with music. The Cheetah Pro has an ultra-bright, easy-to-read, and durable (Gorilla Glass 3) screen, a nylon strap, and a battery that lasts up to 14 days (but requires a proprietary plug to recharge). Choose from a selection of watch face themes and opt for a daily morning update that provides the current weather, your sleep data, and the watch's battery power. Currently $159.99. Advertisement KARI BODNARCHUK Kari Bodnarchuk can be reached at
Japan Times
08-04-2025
- Science
- Japan Times
Japan succeeds in rapid identification of rocks on asteroids using AI
A University of Tokyo team has said that it has managed to rapidly identify from photographs the size, location and shape of some 200,000 rocks on two asteroids using artificial intelligence technology. The photos of asteroid Ryugu were taken by Japan's Hayabusa2 unmanned asteroid probe, while those of asteroid Bennu were taken by the U.S. probe Osiris-Rex. The findings were published Monday in the British journal Scientific Reports. The team, including university project researcher Yuta Shimizu and professor Hideaki Miyamoto, hopes to apply its findings not only to planetary science but also the fields of civil engineering and disaster prevention on Earth. In its research, the team fed an AI system information on some 70,000 rocks on Earth and other celestial bodies and developed an automatic rock identification tool. After being fed some 10,000 high-resolution photos of Ryugu and Bennu, the tool identified some 20,000 rocks at least 1 meter in size on the surface of Ryugu and around 180,000 of such rocks on Bennu. The team also looked at the distribution of rocks of different sizes on the surfaces of the two asteroids. Flows of rocks, soil and sands on Earth show that their sizes observed tend to increase gradually toward the farthest point reached. The AI-based research found that such sediment had flowed from the equator to the two poles of Ryugu, while such sediment had made its way from the poles to the equator on Bennu. The directions were opposite due to the differing centrifugal forces of the two asteroids, with Ryugu having a 7.6-hour rotation period, against Bennu's 4.3 hours. The automatic identification process takes half a day per asteroid, which is swift, according to the team. The technology will be utilized on Japan's Martian Moons Exploration mission, slated to be launched in fiscal 2026. "We expect that (our research) will also be used to detect signs of a rock collapse on Earth by flying drones regularly to take photos of (mountain) slopes and identifying many rocks," Shimizu said.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists search for elusive dark matter throughout the universe
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (KRQE) – Seeing the invisible. That's what a small group of scientists at Los Alamos National Labs are trying to do with data recovered from a near-Earth asteroid, and while it sounds like a daunting if not an impossible task, it's not the first time astronomers have used the theory of 'dark matter' to make celestial discoveries. Story continues below DWI Scandal: APD sergeant placed on leave in connection to DWI Unit scandal Local: Las Cruces community members mourn after deadly shooting at Young Park News Insiders: Albuquerque city councilors quash fire chief's staffing plans Nineteenth-century astronomers were puzzled by the orbit of the planet Uranus. Mathematical calculations indicated something massive was pulling on its orbital path. Then, on the night of September 23, 1846, astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle observed what would be the eighth planet in our solar system: Neptune. 'When we look at the trajectory of Uranus, and we found out that the Uranus motion has some irregularity different from the prediction,' said Yu-Dai Tsai, Research Physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Astronomers successfully predicted where Neptune would be in the sky based on mathematical calculations, which opened a greater understanding of our place in the universe. That same method of discovery is being used in the 21st century, this time, searching for what is impossible to see. 'So the interesting thing about dark matter is that we know that it should have gravitational effect. We know roughly how it's distributed, but we don't know any of the detailed particle property or any of the detailed wavelike property that dark matter should have,' said Tsai. For more than a century, scientists and astronomers have theorized that there is an invisible form of matter tying the universe together. Now, scientists like Tsai at Los Alamos National Labs are employing near-earth objects like the asteroid Bennu to search for this elusive particle. 'We're actually trying to see first if there is any force that is beyond our current understanding. And also we can use that to also study the dark matter distribution in the solar system,' said Tsai. The 2023 NASA Osiris-Rex mission collected samples of dust and rock from the asteroid. Tsai said that the samples could help fundamentally change our understanding of the standard model of physics, adding a fifth element, not that fifth element, to the quartet of the known forces, including gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear, and strong nuclear force. 'If you can prove certain theory and discover a class of new particle or new forces, that will open up a new window to our further understanding of how nature works. But currently, we haven't fully understood dark matter, and we haven't found a fifth force. So it's worth continue figuring out,' said Tsai. According to Tsai, Bennu is just the beginning. In 2029, the asteroid Apophis will make a close approach to Earth. While original observations showed it had a small chance of hitting our planet, it's now calculated to pass by at a safe distance of just 19,000 miles. That's closer than some satellites currently in orbit. The close call will give NASA another chance to collect samples and data on the asteroid with their OSIRIS-APEX mission. The fly-by will hopefully kick up more 'dust' for Tsai and his colleagues in their search for the mysterious force. 'We are more and more, have a better and better precision on tracking all these asteroid. But still there's always surprise. And there, if there is extra force or extra dark matter distribution, it can have a subtle effect on some of these asteroids,' said Tsai. While the slight variations caused by dark matter may not have astronomical effects on near-Earth objects, any slight variation in calculating an orbit can mean the difference between a near miss and a direct hit. 'Those are very important for our future survival. Whether we, if we know some place is going to be hit by asteroid, we need to evacuate or we need to deflect the asteroid. There are many things we can do, but we need to know beforehand,' said Tsai. He hopes this data will not only further enhance LANL's research into dark matter, and a potential new physical element, but he also hopes this research will make the planet safer in our celestial neighborhood. Tsai said that while there is evidence of dark matter within the universe, proof of its existence within our solar system has yet to be found. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Next month NASA's Lucy probe will visit an asteroid that's been waiting 150 million years to say hello
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The next stop for NASA's asteroid-hopping spacecraft Lucy is a space rock named Donaldjohanson, an object researchers recently learned is about 150 million years old. Lucy will fly past the three-mile-wide (five-kilometer-wide) asteroid on April 20, but the trip mostly serves as a rehearsal for other asteroid encounters down the road — namely, Lucy's final destination: Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. Over a 12-year mission, Lucy is scheduled to visit a total of 11 asteroids across two swarms that are leading and trailing Jupiter. Still, every asteroid counts for this mission, and a new paper from researchers at the Southwest Research Institute branch in Boulder, Colorado suggests Donaldjohanson may hold a few welcome surprises. It's particularly likely considering how the last asteroid Lucy flew by, Dinkinesh, had a few treats of its own. "Based on ground-based observations, Donaldjohanson appears to be a peculiar object," Simone Marchi, Lucy's deputy principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute and lead author of the new paper, said in a statement. Marchi and his fellow researchers used computer modeling to figure out that the asteroid was formed roughly 150 million years ago as the result of another, larger asteroid breaking apart. In the time since, the team also learned, Donaldjohanson's orbit and spin have evolved significantly. "Data indicates that it could be quite elongated and a slow rotator, possibly due to thermal torques that have slowed its spin over time," David Vokrouhlický, a professor at the Charles University, Prague, and co-author of the research, said in the same statement. During next month's flyby, Lucy will collect data on the asteroid's shape, surface geology and cratering history. The data Lucy will gather from Donaldjohanson is especially important because that information is only accessible from a close proximity. Bennu and Ryugu are two asteroids that spacecraft have sampled in previous missions. NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission collected samples from Bennu, and the Hayabusa2 asteroid-sampling spacecraft from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) nabbed samples from Ryugu. "We can hardly wait for the flyby because, as of now, Donaldjohanson's characteristics appear very distinct from Bennu and Ryugu. Yet, we may uncover unexpected connections," Marchi added. The Trojan asteroids interest researchers because they hold ancient information on how our solar system came to be. "These relics are effectively fossils of the planet formation process, holding vital clues to deciphering the history of our solar system," Hal Levison, the mission's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, said in the same statement. The Lucy spacecraft launched Oct. 16, 2021 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. Related Stories: — 'That's impact probability zero folks!' Earth safe from 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 — Asteroid 'Dinky,' visited by NASA's Lucy spacecraft, birthed its own moon — NASA's Lucy asteroid-hopping spacecraft pins down surface ages of 1st asteroid targets "Earth-based observing and theoretical models can only take us so far — to validate these models and get to the next level of detail we need close-up data," Keith Noll, Lucy project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in the same statement. "Lucy's upcoming flyby will give us that." A study about these results was published on March 17 in The Planetary Science Journal.
