Asteroid Ryugu – Image taken at 20km on 26 June 2018, diameter 870 m. Credit: Hayabusa2/JAXA
A large international collaboration utilized the
Julia Parker is the Principal Beamline Scientist for I14 at Diamond. She said: “The X-ray Nanoprobe allows scientists to examine the chemical structure of their samples at micron to nano lengthscales, which is complemented by the nano to atomic resolution of the imaging at ePSIC. It’s very exciting to be able to contribute to the understanding of these unique samples, and to work with the team at Leicester to demonstrate how the techniques at the beamline, and correlatively at ePSIC, can benefit future sample return missions.”
Image taken at E01 ePSIC of Ryugu serpentine and Fe oxide minerals. Credit: ePSIC/University of Leicester
The data collected at Diamond contributed to a wider study of the space weathering signatures on the asteroid. The pristine asteroid samples enabled the collaborators to explore how space weathering can alter the physical and chemical composition of the surface of carbonaceous asteroids like Ryugu.
The researchers discovered that the surface of Ryugu is dehydrated and that it is likely that space weathering is responsible. The findings of the study, recently published in Nature Astronomy, have led the authors to conclude that asteroids that appear dry on the surface may be water-rich, potentially requiring revision of our understanding of the abundances of asteroid types and the formation history of the asteroid belt.
Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid, around 900 meters in diameter, first discovered in 1999 within the asteroid belt between
The building blocks of Ryugu are remnants of interactions between water, minerals, and organics in the early Solar System prior to the formation of Earth. Understanding the composition of asteroids can help explain how the early solar system developed, and subsequently how the Earth formed. They may even help explain how life on Earth came about, with asteroids believed to have delivered much of the planet’s water as well as organic compounds such as