Quite a few asteroids which have punctured the surface of dwarf planet Ceres also appear to have influenced its reservoir of precious organic molecules.
In 2017, scientists studying data sent home by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft initially spotted organic compounds generally known as aliphatic molecules near a 32-mile-wide impact crater on Ceres. Since then, they’ve been attempting to pin down the origin of those molecules; few studies suggested asteroids delivered them to the dwarf planet while others concluded they were formed on Ceres itself.
“We’re finding that organics could also be more widespread than first reported and that they appear to be resilient to impacts with Ceres-like conditions,” Juan Rizos, an astrophysicist on the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia in Spain and a co-author of the brand new study, said in a statement.
Related: Astronomers spy recent class of dark, water-rich asteroids like dwarf planet Ceres
To reach at their conclusions, Rizos and his colleagues carried out a series of experiments mimicking the impact conditions expected on Ceres at NASA’s Ames Vertical Gun Range in California, a facility dedicated to simulating the physics and mechanics of impact cratering and asteroid strikes. The team also merged data from the camera and imaging spectrometer on Dawn, and the 2 datasets together allowed the team to map organic-rich areas on Ceres in greater detail than previously done.
The findings collectively show a “good correlation” of organics with areas hosting older impacts, researchers say, showing that asteroid strikes did indeed influence the presence and abundance of organics across billions of years.
“While the origin of the organics stays poorly understood, we now have good evidence that they formed in Ceres and sure within the presence of water. There’s a possibility that a big interior reservoir of organics could also be found inside Ceres,” Rizos said in the identical statement. “So, from my perspective, that result increases the astrobiological potential of Ceres.”
The 2023-2032 decadal survey for planetary science and astrobiology earmarked Ceres as a high priority goal for a sample return mission, which could occur several a long time into the longer term.
Within the meantime, one other NASA probe called Lucy will soon explore 10 trojan asteroids thought to carry clues to the creation of our solar system and even Earth, because of hosting material from the early solar system.
“We are going to likely find differences, because the Trojan asteroids have experienced very different impact histories from Ceres,” said Rizos, “and since there are two compositionally several types of Trojan asteroids.” Comparing data from the Lucy mission to that gathered by Dawn will help us higher understand how these organic molecules are sprinkled throughout the outer solar system, she added.
This research was presented Tuesday (Oct. 17) on the Geological Society of America’s GSA Connects 2023 meeting.