Africa-Press – Kenya. A new analysis of samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu by a Japanese space probe may have uncovered the bizarre object’s birthplace. By using a scanning electron microscope and secondary ion mass spectrometer to examine a sample taken from Ryugu’s surface by the Hayabusa2 probe, scientists at Hokkaido University in Japan believe they’ve found the telltale signs that Ryugu formed in the outer reaches of the solar system, rather than anywhere near Earth, where it presently orbits the Sun.
In addition, the scientists found that Ryugu’s chemical composition looks a lot like 81P/Wild, a comet from the tail of which NASA’s Stardust spacecraft captured particle samples in a 2004 mission. Comets, which also form at the edges of the solar system, tend to be made more of ice than of rock, as asteroids are. Carbonate minerals and amino acids also point to Ryugu forming in very low temperatures, since it has retained much of its water.
The scientists’ report was published last week in Science Advances. The capsule of dust from Ryugu that was captured by the Hayabusa2 probe arrived back on Earth just over two years ago, when the capsule touched down in Australia. The spacecraft observed Ryugu and performed a number of tests on it, including landing on its surface twice and firing a small projectile into it.
The bizarre object, which orbits close enough to Earth to be of concern, is some 3,000 feet across and has a very low visibility. While it is considered an asteroid, Ryugu is actually a rubble pile held together by its own gravity, and mostly hollow in the center.
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