Meteorites are solid debris from outer space that land on Earth, are often believed to contain materials that will somehow give an insight into the creation of the solar system. Some of these meteorites even contain amino acids or carbon compounds which baffles most astronomers. Recently, a study has been published about a meteorite containing fossilized ice on its surface.
A PRIMITIVE METEORITE
Researchers from Japan, China, and the United Kingdom published their paper regarding their new findings titled "Discovery of asteroidal fossil ice in primitive meteorite Acfer 094" on Science Advances. This includes a detailed description of high-resolution scans of the 4.6 billion years old asteroid named Acfer 094. Acfer 094 was found in 1990 in the Algerian mountains and has gone under major scrutiny because of its age: the meteorite is considered as primitive. The asteroid was considered to be a part of a much larger asteroid that roamed the solar system. Since Acfer 094 was detached from its main body and fell on Earth, it is now classified as a carbonaceous chondrite. Meaning it can contain valuable information in terms of particles and minerals present as to how the solar system came to be.
The scientists behind this study used synchrotron radiation-based X-ray nanotomography, where charged particles are subject to acceleration. Through this methodology, the scientists obtained a high-resolution view of extremely tiny pores on the surface of Acfer 094 in which they believed to fossilized ice crystals. These pores measure up to 10 microns and serve as tiny indentations that may have or may not have contained ice and water. The scientists hypothesized that these pores were created when the meteorite crossed a virtual sphere that serves as a boundary surrounding the sun. This sphere is known as the snow-line, and here is where the heat from the sun melts the ice in an asteroid.
According to the study, there are mineral formations found within the pores of Acfer 094, which could have been the result of the interactions between water and other materials that make up the composition of the asteroid. However, this finding raises more questions even to the researchers behind the study, as well. For instance, when the Acfer 094 was found, there wasn't enough water in its pores to be able to produce the amount of minerals they found. Second, the specimen should contain more ice as this would infer that the parent body is heterogeneous (or somewhat with a foreign origin). If it is true that Acfer 094 once belonged to a larger asteroid, it means that when the parent body crossed the snow-line, the ice on the surface of the asteroid would have heated up and dissipated leading to the higher amount of water or ice content in the core of the meteorite than its outer layer.
Despite these questions, the researchers behind this new finding are optimistic that the data that was found in a primordial meteorite like Acfer 094 can be useful and vital in understanding and putting together the pieces of the puzzle of our solar system's creation.
