Meteorite that smashed through a New Jersey roof reveals clues to life’s origins
A meteorite that landed in New Jersey in 2024 has provided scientists with new insights into the origins of life. Forensic analysis revealed the presence of salty fluids on the asteroid fragment, a feature previously unseen in this type of space rock.
Why it matters
Studying primitive asteroid material helps scientists understand the chemical conditions of the early solar system.
A meteor streaked across the New York City area in broad daylight on July 16, 2024, producing a sonic boom as it passed just south of the Statue of Liberty. Not long afterward, a meteorite weighing more than two pounds punched through the roof of a home in Hillsborough, New Jersey. An international research team has now analyzed the recovered material and reported its findings in Science Advances .
"A forensic study of the fragments revealed that they contained preserved bits from near the surface of a primitive asteroid where it experienced concentrated salty fluids -- a process not previously known from this type of proto-planet world," said lead author and meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.
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