A new study has revealed an unexpectedly rich inventory of organic chemistry in two carbonaceous meteorites. Researchers examined samples from the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969, and Aguas Zarcas, which fell in Costa Rica in 2019. Using sequential solvent extractions, a 21-tesla mass spectrometer, and high-resolution atomic-force microscopy, they identified more than 66,000 unique molecular formulas in Murchison and more than 91,000 in Aguas Zarcas.
The compounds included molecules with up to 70 carbon atoms, as many as 20 oxygen atoms, and stable iron- and magnesium-bearing organometallic structures. The findings suggest meteorites contain a broad, petrochemical-like reservoir rather than only a small set of familiar biological building blocks. This preserved pre-solar and early Solar System chemistry may help explain how complex abiotic molecules formed before life emerged on Earth.
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/space-rocks-carry-hundreds-of-thousands-of-complex-organic-moleculesand-we-just-photographed-them
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2026-09-22 11:55:29 UTC
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2026-09-22 11:55:29 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "A new study has revealed an unexpectedly rich inventory of organic chemistry in two carbonaceous meteorites. Researchers examined samples from the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969, and Aguas Zarcas, which fell in Costa Rica in 2019. Using sequential solvent extractions, a 21-tesla mass spectrometer, and high-resolution atomic-force microscopy, they identified more than 66,000 unique molecular formulas in Murchison and more than 91,000 in Aguas Zarcas.\n\nThe compounds included molecules with up to 70 carbon atoms, as many as 20 oxygen atoms, and stable iron- and magnesium-bearing organometallic structures. The findings suggest meteorites contain a broad, petrochemical-like reservoir rather than only a small set of familiar biological building blocks. This preserved pre-solar and early Solar System chemistry may help explain how complex abiotic molecules formed before life emerged on Earth.\n\nhttps://www.universetoday.com/articles/space-rocks-carry-hundreds-of-thousands-of-complex-organic-moleculesand-we-just-photographed-them",
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