Meteorites & Asteroids – Page 3 – My WordPress Site

Orgueil Carbonaceous Chondrite - Wikipedia

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Sample Return

Abiotic Sugar Enantiomers In The CI Carbonaceous Chondrite Orgueil

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026March 2, 2026

KUBIK onboard the ISS -- NASA

Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Comets and Asteroids, Commercial & Private Sector, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Space Life Science, Space Stations

Microbial Biomining From Asteroidal Material Onboard The International Space Station

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026February 3, 2026

Examples of metabolic networks (gray nodes and edges) and seed sets (blue circles).

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia

Potential Metabolic Viability On Asteroid Chemistry

by Keith CowingJanuary 26, 2026January 26, 2026

A scanning electron micrograph of the planktic foraminifer Parvularugoglobigerina eugubina. The evolution of this species ~6,400 years after the Chicxulub impact marks the top of the first plantkic foraminifer biozone after the K/Pg extinction. Scan by Chris Lowrey. Credit Scan by Chris Lowrey.

Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life

Evidence Of ‘lightning-fast’ Evolution Found After Dinosaur-killing Asteroid Impact

by Keith CowingJanuary 22, 2026January 22, 2026

Still from an animated view of the Sun and the Earth as seen from the Moon's South Pole NASA source

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Moon, Origin & Evolution of Life, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Our Moon’s 4-Billion-Year Impact Record Suggests Meteorites Didn’t Supply Earth’s Water

by Keith CowingJanuary 21, 2026January 21, 2026

3D rendering of meteorite and clasts. a) 3D rendering of the attenuation tomograms cut in half in z to show two H-Fe-ox clasts, showing neutron attenuation on the left and X-ray attenuation on the right. White means high attenuation, dark means low attenuation. b) 3D rendering of segmented phases throughout the meteorite, with H-rich Fe-oxyhydroxides in blue and H-poor Fe-Ti oxides in red. c) 3D rendering of the three biggest H-Fe-ox clasts. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Direct Detection Of Hydrogen Reveals A New Macroscopic Crustal Water Reservoir On Early Mars

by Keith CowingJanuary 15, 2026January 15, 2026

Biological and abiotic tubes. SEM images of tubular colonies of a) Aspergillus niger feeding on straw (image: Anna Neubeck) and b) manganese oxide chemical gardens (image: Huld et al., 2023). The A. niger tubes ranged in size between 2-5 µm in diameter, and the manganese oxides were found in ranges between 1–20 µm in size. SEM images of c) A. niger (image: Anna Neubeck), d) manganese oxide chemical gardens (image: Anna Neubeck), and e) A. niger closeup (image: D. Gregory & D. Marshall, CC BY 4.0). -- nlin.PS

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio

Self-assembled Versus Biological Pattern Formation In Geology

by Keith CowingJanuary 9, 2026January 9, 2026

Artistic depiction of liposome formation and evolution. Liposomes formed on the surface of the Archean water pools are destroyed by Solar UV unless they acquire two adaptive traits – the heavy content that sinks the liposomes to the bottom of the pool and facilitates protection from UV, and the formation of resilient autocatalytic membrane composition that ensures liposomal survival, fusion, fission, and mutation of the components, thus providing liposomes adaptation and persistence. -- q-bio.PE

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life

Heuristic Model On The Origin Of The Homochirality Of Life

by Keith CowingJanuary 2, 2026January 3, 2026

NanoSIMS ratio and ion images (top images) of a region containing a 17O-rich presolar silicate grain (arrows). The elemental maps and spectra from SEM-EDX analysis confirm the grain is a ferromagnesian silicate. -- Nature Astronomy via PubMed

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return

The Variety And Origin Of Materials Accreted By Bennu’s Parent Asteroid

by Keith CowingDecember 24, 2025December 24, 2025

a, STEM high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) + EDS image of Particle 2. A nitrogenous vein (green) is sandwiched between phyllosilicate regions (purple). A circular region shows the location of a selected area electron diffraction acquisition shown in b. The Pt and Si deposition and redeposition layers were created during the FIB processing. b, Selected area electron diffraction shows that the nitrogenous vein is amorphous. c, SEM backscatter plus EDS view of the larger particle before the FIB section was extracted. The substrate is diamond; only N was used for the green channel. The line shows the location of the FIB liftout; the dashed portion of the line is outside the field of view in a. d, EDS spectrum of the CNO peaks of the organic phase along with the fit used for quantification. dep, deposition; redep, redeposition.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

Nitrogen- And Oxygen-Rich Organic Material Indicative Of Polymerization In Pre-aqueous Cryochemistry On Bennu’s Parent Body

by Keith CowingDecember 21, 2025December 21, 2025