The recent discovery of all five canonical nucleobases in samples from Bennu provides compelling evidence that some of life’s ingredients were synthesized abiotically in the parent body of this asteroid and/or its precedent components.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Sample Return
![The green-to-red intensity ratio of [O I] (G/R) in 3I (filled circle), compared with measurements for a sample of Solar System comets: Jupiter-family comets (JFCs; open triangles), Oort Cloud comets (OCCs; open squares), and Halley-type comets (HTCs; crosses) from A. Decock et al. (2013); A. McKay et al. (2015); Y. Shinnaka & H. Kawakita (2016); Y. Shinnaka et al. (2020), as well as C/2016 R2 from C. Opitom et al. (2019) and 2I/Borisov from C. Opitom et al. (2021). -- astro-ph.GA](https://astrobiology.newspackstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/A-post-perihelion-constraint.png)
