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   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Two meteorites are providing a detailed look into outer space    
      
     Date:   
         March 27, 2023   
     Source:   
         American Chemical Society   
     Summary:   
         If you've ever seen a shooting star, you might have seen a meteor   
         on its way to Earth. Those that land here can be used to peek back   
         in time, into the far corners of outer space or at the earliest   
         building blocks of life. Scientists have conducted some of the most   
         detailed analyses yet on the organic material of two meteorites.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   If you've ever seen a shooting star, you might have actually seen a   
   meteor on its way to Earth. Those that land here are called meteorites   
   and can be used to peek back in time, into the far corners of outer space   
   or at the earliest building blocks of life. Today, scientists report   
   some of the most detailed analyses yet of the organic material of two   
   meteorites. They've identified tens of thousands of molecular "puzzle   
   pieces," including a larger amount of oxygen atoms than they had expected.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the   
   American Chemical Society (ACS).   
      
   Previously, the team led by Alan Marshall, Ph.D., investigated complex   
   mixtures of organic materials found on Earth, including petroleum. But   
   now, they are turning their attention toward the skies -- or the things   
   that have fallen from them. Their ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry   
   (MS) technique is starting to reveal new information about the universe   
   and could ultimately provide a window into the origin of life itself.   
      
   "This analysis gives us an idea of what's out there, what we're going to   
   run into as we move forward as a 'spacefaring' species," says Joseph   
   Frye-Jones, a graduate student who is presenting the work at the   
   meeting. Both Marshall and Frye-Jones are at Florida State University   
   and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.   
      
   Thousands of meteorites fall to Earth every year, but only a rare few are   
   "carbonaceous chondrites," the category of space rock that contains the   
   most organic, or carbon-containing, material. One of the most famous is   
   the "Murchison" meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969 and has been   
   studied extensively since. A newer entry is the relatively unexplored   
   "Aguas Zarcas," which fell in Costa Rica in 2019, bursting through   
   back porches and even a doghouse as its pieces fell to the ground. By   
   understanding the organic makeup of these meteorites, researchers can   
   obtain information about where and when the rocks formed, and what they   
   ran into on their journey through space.   
      
   To make sense of the complicated jumble of molecules on the meteorites,   
   the scientists turned to MS. This technique blasts a sample apart into   
   tiny particles, then basically reports the mass of each one, represented   
   as a peak.   
      
   By analyzing the collection of peaks, or the spectrum, scientists can   
   learn what was in the original sample. But in many cases, the resolution   
   of the spectrum is only good enough to confirm the presence of a compound   
   that was already presumed to be there, rather than providing information   
   about unknown components.   
      
   This is where Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR)   
   MS comes in, which is also known as "ultra-high resolution" MS. It   
   can analyze incredibly complex mixtures with very high levels of   
   resolution and accuracy. It's especially well suited for analyzing   
   mixtures, like petroleum, or the complex organic material extracted   
   from a meteorite. "With this instrument, we really have the resolution   
   to look at everything in many kinds of samples," says Frye- Jones.   
      
   The researchers extracted the organic material from samples of both the   
   Murchison and Aguas Zarcas meteorites, then analyzed it with ultra-high   
   resolution MS. Rather than analyzing only one specific class of molecules   
   at a time, such as amino acids, they chose to look at all soluble organic   
   material at once. This provided the team with more than 30,000 peaks for   
   each meteorite to analyze, and over 60% of them could be given a unique   
   molecular formula.   
      
   Frye-Jones says these results represent the first analysis of this type   
   on the Aguas Zarcas meteorite, and the highest-resolution analysis on   
   the Murchison one. In fact, this team identified nearly twice as many   
   molecular formulas as previously reported for the older meteorite.   
      
   Once determined, the data were sorted into unique groups based on   
   various characteristics, such as whether they included oxygen or sulfur,   
   or whether they potentially contained a ring structure or double   
   bonds. They were surprised to find a large amount of oxygen content   
   among the compounds. "You don't think of oxygen-containing organics as   
   being a big part of meteorites," explained Marshall.   
      
   The researchers will next turn their attention to two far more precious   
   samples: a few grams of lunar dust from the Apollo 12 and 14 missions of   
   1969 and 1971, respectively. These samples predate Marshall's invention   
   of FT-ICR MS in the early 1970s. Instrumentation has come a long way   
   in the decades since and is now perfectly poised to analyze these   
   powders. The team will soon compare their results from the meteorite   
   analyses to the data they obtain from the lunar samples, hoping to learn   
   more information about where the moon's surface came from. "Was it from   
   meteorites? Solar radiation? We should be able to soon shed some light   
   on that," says Marshall.   
      
   The researchers acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation   
   Division of Chemistry and the State of Florida. They thank the Chicago   
   Field Museum Robert A Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies   
   and the Arizona State University Buseck Center of Meteorite Studies for   
   the meteorite samples.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Space_&_Time   
                   # Asteroids,_Comets_and_Meteors # Solar_Flare #   
                   Space_Missions # NASA # Space_Exploration # Moon #   
                   Sun # Solar_System   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Meteor o Meteorite o Outer_space o Space_observatory   
             o Space_elevator o Spitzer_space_telescope o Venus o   
             Extraterrestrial_life   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by American_Chemical_Society. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230327114908.htm   
      
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