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meteor

“Rainbow Meteorite” May Carry the Building Blocks of Life

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Rainbow Metoerite

A small, soft space rock smacked into Costa Rica on April 23, 2019. And it may have carried building blocks for life. The washing machine-sized clay fireball broke up before landing, . Locals found shards scattered between two villages, La Palmera and Aguas Zarcas. And while meteorites turn up all over Earth, these shards were special; the asteroid that spawned them was a soft remnant of the early solar system, made from the dust from the spinning nebula that would ultimately form our solar system, formed in even older stars. And the meteorites that rained down from the event — … Read more

What Will Drive Us to Extinction First?

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apocalypse

The scene opens on a sparse, gray landscape, a gnarled tree in the foreground, bits of ash slowly drifting down from the sky. On the horizon, a few huddled figures stumble forward and into a bleak future. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a common visual trope in many post-apocalyptic films. Usually, these films tell the story of a catastrophe — an asteroid strike perhaps, or a nuclear war — that causes humanity’s demise, and then follows the challenges that the remaining humans face as they try to save their species from extinction. Such films grip the public imagination. … Read more

SCIENCE: Meteor That Killed the Dinosaurs Hit Planet at Worst Possible Angle

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Asteroid - pixabay

The flaming space rock that slammed into Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs, struck at the worst possible angle (for the dinosaurs, that is), new research suggests. Colliding with an enormous, fast-moving cosmic projectile would have been disastrous under just about any circumstances. But this giant space rock also hit the planet at a steep angle, causing the “deadliest possible” outcome by releasing much more gas and pulverized rock than it would have with a shallower approach, researchers recently discovered. Scientists modeled the path of the meteor as it hurtled toward Earth, creating the first 3D simulations to trace the … Read more

Researchers Find Traces of Martian Oceans in Antarctic Meteorite

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Mars

A bit of 4-billion-year-old rock blasted off the Martian surface about 15 million years ago and eventually landed in Antarctica, where explorers found it in 1984. In the decades since, organic compounds found in that meteorite have been sources of controversy: Did they come from Mars, or did the meteorites get contaminated on Earth? Now, a team of Japanese researchers has reexamined the meteorites, and say they found traces of ancient oceans, rich in useful carbon and nitrogen — key ingredients for life. The meteorite, known as Allan Hills 84001, after the location where it was first discovered, has long … Read more

FACT CHECK: Corona Virus Did Not Come From Outer Space

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Asteroid - pixabay

No, the new coronavirus didn’t come from outer space. We promise. With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to spread around the globe, people are panicked, and they’re looking for answers and explanations. One wild theory that has made its way around the web is that the virus came from space. Spoiler alert: The virus did not come from space. Recently, Chandra Wickramasinghe, known for his work in astronomy and astrobiology, spread the idea that the virus was living on a comet and a piece of that space rock may have fallen to Earth during a brief fireball event over China in … Read more

RNA in Spaaaaace… ?

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meteor - pixabay

A new study suggests that when some ancient meteorites crash-land on Earth, they bring a dash of extraterrestrial sugar with them. To be clear, this is not table sugar (sadly, scientists still have no insight into whether aliens prefer their coffee black or sweetened). Rather, in the powdered samples of two ancient, carbon-filled meteorites, astronomers have found traces of several sugars that are key to life — including ribose, the sugary base of RNA (ribonucleic acid). According to lead study author Yoshihiro Furukawa, this is the first time that these bioessential sugars have been detected in meteorites. The find gives … Read more

Did Life On Earth Come From a Poison Meteor?

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meteor - NASA

Cyanide isn’t just the last resort for the captured spies of Hollywood film. It’s also a crucial component of the early chemistry of life. And now, new research finds that cyanide might have ridden to Earth on meteorites. Samples of a particular group of primitive meteorites — including a large one that fell near Murchison, Australia, in 1969 — all contain cyanide, bound in a stable configuration with iron and carbon monoxide. These same sorts of structures are found in enzymes called hydrogenases in modern bacteria and archaea, which could suggest that early life either borrowed from meteorites or that … Read more

SPACE: Exploding Meteor Causes Earthquake

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meteor - pixabay

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that the blast from a meteor caused a 2.0 earthquake over Detroit and southeast Michigan on Tuesday night around 8:10 pm. The earthquake was recorded 8 kilometers west-southwest of New Haven, according to the USGS. The meteor lit up the sky and social media was flooded with videos of its blinding light. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) reported 355 sightings. Sightings were reported in Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada. By Andy Towle – Full Story at Towleroad.com