Since they were formed in the early solar system, many meteorites offer an unadulterated insight into what this solar system is made of or what happened to it, as we previously reported. Recently, a team of researchers led by Maggie Thompson of the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) studied the chemical composition of three different chondritic meteorites that have remained largely untouched since the planets were formed. Their composition was different from the current models predicted and could lead to a better understanding of the early planetary atmosphere.
Earlier models of the formation of the solar system used different processes to explain the formation of atmospheres on gas giants and rocky planets. Gas giants have been thought to be composed primarily of the hydrogen and helium that make up the sun. Alternatively, the atmosphere of rocky planets like Earth should be caused by the outgassing of the collected asteroids from which they were formed. The problem so far was that no one had really looked to see if asteroids contained the correct material to confirm this theory.
Presentation of the authors who describe some of their research.
Photo credit: Astronomy on Tap Santa Cruz YouTube Channel
To search for this material, the team used a technique similar to Perseverance’s current laser on Mars – they baked the meteorites to expel their chemical constituents, and then analyzed the gases released with a mass spectrometer. In this particular case, they heated the meteorites to 1200 ° C – much hotter than most conventional ovens. Many of the materials released at these high temperatures are common on Earth today – carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen / hydrogen sulfide. But above all, water was the most common molecule.
The type of meteorite apparently plays a big role in analyzing these gaseous eruptions, and the team analyzed parts of three different chondritic meteorites – Aguas Zarcas, found in Costa Rica in 2019, Murchison, found in Australia in 1969, and Jbilet Winselwan found in Western Sahara in 2013. Chondritic meteorites are important because they provide the best approximation of the material that was available when the sun and planets formed. They are also considered stable as they likely weren’t melted in their early years.
Images of the three meteorites used in the study.
Photo credit: Maggie Thompson
Some models were confirmed by this series of tests. First, the idea that asteroid outgassing played an important role in the formation of early planetary atmospheres has been at least partially confirmed. In addition, chemical equilibrium models of what was suspected in the meteorites predicted the observed outgassing. Other researchers had previously used the same method to test meteorites in a furnace. However, this marked the first time that research has focused on the effects of outgassing on the formation of the planet and the early solar system.
Lead author Maggie Thompson (right) and co-author Assistant Professor Myriam Telus in the UCSC laboratory where they baked the meteorites.
Photo credit: Jeremy Colvin
It won’t be the last, however. The UCSC team is planning further tests on “a variety of meteorites,” says Thompson. The more data that is collected, the more constraints scientists can place on these educational processes. There are still plenty of meteorites to hunt and study.
Learn more:
UCSC – Baked Meteorites provide clues about planetary atmospheres
Natural astronomy – composition of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres from meteorite outgassing experiments
Space.com – Scientists baked meteorites in an oven to study the atmosphere of extraterrestrial planets
News18 – US scientists literally baked meteorites in a laboratory to recreate the formation of planets
UT – meteorite tells us about water on Mars 4.4 billion years ago
Mission statement:
Illustration of an early rocky planet with outgassing forming in the atmosphere.
Photo credit: Dan Dura / Southwest Research Institute
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