Japanese scientists have completed the analysis of the grains of the asteroid Ryugu. In this respect informs Tohoku University.
Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid with a diameter of about 900 meters. It is famous for visiting and taking soil samples by the Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 in 2019. The material delivered to Earth has become a valuable source of information about the composition and structure of asteroids.
A recent study of rock samples brought back to Earth focused on calcium- and aluminum-rich chondro-like elements and inclusions (CAIs). For example, some asteroids of the Main Belt that periodically fall to Earth are composed of such material.
Many researchers had previously concluded that the asteroid Ryugu (now near Earth) may have formed in the outer solar system. The main conclusion of the new study is that the CAI material may have originated from the inner solar system at the dawn of its existence and then gradually transferred to the outer parts. Scientists came to such conclusions as a result of the analysis of the isotopic composition, which indicates the proximity to the Sun, as well as the analysis of the structure of the grains under the microscope.
According to the study’s authors, CAI and other materials formed a specific body in the outer solar system during the split where Ryugu formed and then migrated to Earth. “We now want to further analyze these earliest Ryugu solar system solids to try to understand the radial outward transport mechanisms in early solar nebulae,” the authors explain.
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