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Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
elizabethtasker@mastodon.online ("Elizabeth Tasker") wrote:
It's been just over 2 years since JAXA's #Hayabusa2 mission returned to Earth with a sample from #asteroid #Ryugu. Journal papers have started to pour in from the initial analysis, but each only looks at a particular facet of the sample, and it can be overwhelming to follow and piece together. So we made a chalkboard video at ISAS highlighting a few of the trends seen across the publications! (This is based on a talk by Tachibana Shogo: Hayabusa2 Initial Analysis Team Manager)
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- A video that looks like it's being drawn on a chalkboard highlighting a few of the main results from the analysis. Main results: (1) The amounts of the different chemical elements in Ryugu is similar to that of the Sun. Ryugu (or the larger asteroid from which Ryugu is a fragment) must therefore have formed with the young Sun at the start of the Solar System, making Ryugu’s composition an ingredient list for the Solar System & planets. (2) Fluid was found trapped in crystals of iron sulphide, consisting of water and carbon dioxide, which must have been incorporated into the asteroid while frozen. Ryugu must therefore have formed far from the Sun. But the magnetic field recorded in magnetite crystals also implied Ryugu was close to the Sun during the early Solar System. Ryugu therefore likely moved from the outer to inner Solar System while the planets were forming. So similar asteroid could have brought water to the Earth! An inter-planetary delivery mechanism definitely exists. (3) Ryugu’s surface has a veil of dehydration. Comparison of surface and sub-surface material collected by Hayabusa2 revealed that Ryugu’s surface minerals had lost water due to space weathering (e.g. radiation, cosmic rays, micro-meteorites). Other asteroids like Ryugu may therefore appear dry but actually be similarly veiled, with a space weathered layer hiding more water-rich minerals. This talk was based on a presentation by Tachibana Shogo, at the ISAS Space Science Symposium, Jan 2023. (remote)