Some Of These Types Of Molecules Are The Building Blocks For Life.

Bennu is both an old and a new asteroid. A new analysis of samples from the asteroid bennu, nasa’s first asteroid sample captured in space and delivered to earth, reveals that evaporated water left a briny broth. Analyzing a sample from an asteroid named bennu reveals the chemicals necessary to form dna and rna.

Like All Of The Millions Of Other Objects In The Asteroid Belt, It Formed 4.5 Billion Years Ago When Our Solar System Was Just Accreting.

The sample also contained evidence of a salty, briny broth where the chemicals could interact and combine. These include 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on earth uses to build. The minerals are rich in carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, fluorine and sodium, making them resemble those left in the crusts of dried lake beds on earth — except they date to the.

An Ancient Relic Of Our Solar System’s Early Days, Asteroid Bennu Has Seen More Than 4.5 Billion Years Of History.

We boiled them in water and acids to extract the organic compounds to make this. The nature paper found evidence of evaporated brine. Scientists theorized that the asteroid contained traces of water and organic.

Published Online January 29, 2025.

Bennu’s molecular composition suggests the ice and organic compounds in its parent body originated in the extremely cold outermost disk of gas and dust that gave rise to. Organic compounds have one or more carbon atoms that are bound to other elements, usually hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. Lest any potential discoveries be tainted.

This Combination Of Rock, Water And Organics Is One Reason.

All those organic compounds need a proper environment to develop in, and bennu shows evidence of containing that, too. Asteroid bennu is a perfect place to. In addition to the 14 amino acids used by earthly life, dworkin says, there are many others, probably.