Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/03/05/japanese-scientists-find-water-and-organic-matter-on-itokawa-asteroid.html
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Huge nothing burger…
Asteroids often contain water, water is the most common compound molecule in the universe…
Organic matter can mean any carbon containing molecule that is not CO2.
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The organic matter is presented as both nanocrystalline graphite and disordered polyaromatic carbon with high D/H and 15N/14N ratios (δD = + 4868 ± 2288‰; δ15N = + 344 ± 20‰) signifying an explicit extra-terrestrial origin.
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If I may be pedantic, it’s E.T. origin is explicit, so it more likely looks like this.
Sexy.
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I wouldn’t call it a nothing burger. Both finds aren’t exactly unexpected. We have found organic compounds in meteorites before, such as amino acids. But understanding the geology and chemistry of asteroids can help understand how our early solar system formed.
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Someone used it as a restroom?
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hey now.
that’s not how sciencing works. in sciencing, we make up ideas ( called hypotenuses, i think ) – and then we test them by searching for reddit posts and wikipedia articles ( called research, i think ) for confirmation bias ( yup. )
actual testing is left to engineers ( what do they know? ) and is completely besides the point.
space probes are so 2020.
[ eta: all joking aside, touching down on an asteroid and bringing back samples. it’s freaking amazing. it’s really cool all the science they are doing. ]
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Doesn’t this finding have some implications for the origins of fossil fuel deposits? I.E. might it not imply that something like coal and/or petroleum may well have preceded organic life on Earth?
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No, no, it really truly does not.
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