The discovery of a comet fragment inside a meteorite provides clues about water delivery
2019-04-26
12:15
CSIC
Sala Alberto Lobo (ICE building, Campus UAB)
In our Meteorite Microscopy Clean Room we have discovered the first cometary fragment found inside a meteorite, precisely in the CR2 carbonaceous chondrite LaPaz 02342.
This finding demonstrates that the class of meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites contains clues to the composition of more fragile objects that formed in regions distant from the Sun, about 4,560 million years ago. The chemical and isotopic evidence suggests that the clast was probably subjected to cosmic ray irradiation, and accreted into the asteroid preserving an ice mantle, so it demonstrates wet accretion.
The results are published in the journal Nature Astronomy.