Meteor fragments falling on people's houses reveal the origin of life

According to Space, on July 16, 2024, a meteorite rushed across the sky with a sonic boom that shook New York City before its debris fell on a house in the town of Hillsborough, New Jersey. In research published on July 15 in the journal Science Advances, international scientists speculate that this meteorite may come from the surface of an asteroid containing liquid brine, helping to provide clues about the origin of life on Earth.

After rushing through the Earth's atmosphere and heating up, falling through the roof and bedroom ceiling, the meteorite broke into many pieces, emitting a strong sulfur smell. According to astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center, the study's lead author, the homeowner not only quickly collected the debris but also wore gloves and protected the rocks in a separate jar, thanks to which the specimen was especially pure and intact because it was not contaminated by oil or moisture from his hands. The homeowner then contacted the American Meteor Society to send samples.

Mike Zolensky, a meteorologist at NASA's Johnson Space Center, is in charge of analyzing the debris. Zolensky and his colleagues discovered that the meteorite is filled with amino acids and organic compounds created from chemical reactions with minerals in the rock.

The research team classified the sample as a CM2 carbonaceous chondrite, a type of primitive meteorite that formed in the early Solar System. However, CM2 meteorites often come from parent asteroids that have not been significantly altered by water. Another type of meteorite called CM1 originates from a water-bearing asteroid. The Hillsborough meteorite does not fit neatly into any of the categories. Researchers found evidence that its parent asteroid had water, so they classified the rock as CM1/2. This is the second meteorite of this group discovered on Earth.

The research team also collected many small salt grains inside the meteorite and concluded that it may come from an area where liquid water evaporated and salt accumulated near the surface of the parent asteroid. Initial analysis results indicate that the amino acids in the sample formed on the parent asteroid through chemical reactions in a salty environment. Salt water allows phosphate to remain in solution, promoting chemical reactions between organic compounds and mineral precipitation.

According to Phys.org, the Hillsborough meteorite contains 1.8% carbon and 0.07% nitrogen. According to astrochemist Queenie Chan at Royal Holloway University, London, England, and biochemist Nana Ogawa at the Japan Agency for Ocean-Global Science and Technology, carbon and nitrogen isotope research shows that primordial carbonaceous chondrites, including the CM type, brought organic matter to the early Earth. Astrobiologist Danny Glavin at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and colleagues also concluded that by providing amino acids, carboxylic acids and other dissolved organic molecules, CM meteorites could contribute to a prebiotic reserve before life appeared on Earth.

Thanks to information from residents and images from cameras across the eastern United States, the team was able to piece together data about the meteorite's trajectory and speed. They discovered it came from the area inside the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

According to CNN, researchers are working to identify salt minerals in the Hillsborough meteorite and compare them with samples collected from asteroids Bennu and Ryugu during NASA's 2020 OSIRIS-REx mission and Japan's 2019 Hayabusa2 mission. Currently, the Hillsborough meteorite fragment is being preserved at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.