For the first time, water molecules have been detected on the surface of an asteroid, proving that these remnants of the solar system’s formation are more than just dry space rocks.
Astronomers believe that asteroid impacts may have helped bring water and other elements to early Earth, so finding evidence of water on asteroids would support that theory. A new study has revealed that it may be possible.
The data was collected from instruments on the airborne telescope of the now-retired Stratospheric Infrared Astronomy Observatory. The infrared telescope, called SOFIA, flew aboard a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to fly through the stratosphere, above 99 percent of Earth’s atmosphere, which blocks infrared radiation.
The Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST instrument) allowed astronomers to detect water molecules on Iris and Massalia, two asteroids in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Both are more than 323.1 million miles from the Sun.
The findings were announced on Monday. Planetary Science Journal.
Astronomers turned to SOFIA to study asteroids after telescopes discovered traces of water on the moon, said lead study author Dr. Anicia Arredondo, a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. It is said that this was the impetus for using it.
Evidence of hydration was previously discovered in these two asteroids by study co-author Dr. Maggie McAdam, a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, while using a different telescope. It had been. But researchers weren’t sure whether water caused the hydration or whether another molecular compound, such as hydroxyl, was responsible, Arredondo said.
“New observations with SOFIA confirm conclusively that what they saw was indeed water,” Arredondo said. “But these objects are part of the S-class asteroids, meaning they are made mostly of silicates, and until Dr. McAdam’s results, they are thought to be completely dry. I did.”
Finding water on the dry surface of space
Arredondo said the amount of water the team detected was roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle trapped in one cubic meter of soil, which is comparable to SOFIA’s lunar discoveries. In 2020, the telescope captured traces of water molecules in one of the largest craters in the moon’s southern hemisphere.
Similar to water on the moon, “on asteroids, water can be bound to minerals, adsorbed to silicates, and trapped or dissolved in silicate impact glass,” Arredondo said. Stated.
Asteroids are leftovers from the formation of planets in our solar system. By studying their composition, astronomers can learn where asteroids originate in our near universe.
“When the solar system was forming, different materials formed depending on their distance from the sun, because material (further) from the sun cooled faster than material closer (closer) to the sun,” Arredondo said. he said in an email. “That’s why inner planets like Earth and Mars are made of rock, and outer planets like Neptune and Uranus are made of ice and gas.”
Detecting water on Iris and Massalia will help astronomers track the history of these particular asteroids and ensure that their formation took place far enough from the sun to avoid evaporation of water due to heat. It suggests that it was done.
Searching for water throughout the solar system
Researchers tried to use SOFIA to look for water on two other asteroids, but the detections were too faint. The team is currently using the James Webb Space Telescope to zero in on various asteroids, looking for signs of water.
Although the Webb observations are ongoing, Arredondo said the preliminary results have prompted the team to request time to observe 30 more asteroids using powerful infrared telescopes.
“Because the JWST telescope is much larger than the SOFIA telescope, it can collect higher quality data and can collect data on more asteroids in a shorter amount of time,” Arredondo said. “We hope to be able to use JWST to observe various asteroids, look for traces of this water, and confirm the inventory of water in the asteroid belt.”
Webb could help astronomers better understand the distribution of water throughout the solar system and the composition of different types of asteroids.
“We really didn’t expect to find water in a silicate-rich asteroid,” Arredondo said. “When we talk about hydration on asteroids, we’re almost always talking about carbon-rich asteroids. Asteroid Bennu This was done by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. So now I would like to look for trends between hydration amount and composition. We would like to know whether carbon-rich asteroids contain significantly more water than silicate-rich asteroids, or whether they have the same amount of water. ”