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NASA/Carla Thomas/SwRI
Data from NASA’s Stratospheric Infrared Astronomy Observatory revealed water molecules on the surface of two different asteroids.
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Water molecules have been detected for the first time on the surface of asteroids, showing that these remnants of the formation of our solar system are not simply dry space rocks.
Astronomers believe that the impact of asteroids crashing into our planet may have helped bring water and other elements to early Earth, so finding evidence of water on asteroids could support that theory, according to a new study.
The data was collected from an instrument on the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy airborne telescope. Called SOFIA, the infrared telescope flew aboard a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to fly through the stratosphere above 99% of Earth’s atmosphere, which blocks infrared light.
The SOFIA Telescope’s Faint Object Infrared Camera, or 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 223.1 million miles from the sun.
The findings were published Monday in The Planetary Science Magazine.
Astronomers were inspired to use SOFIA to study asteroids after the telescope They discovered evidence of water on the Moon.said the study’s lead author, Dr. Anicia Arredondo, a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
Study co-author Dr. Maggie McAdam, a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, had found evidence of hydration on the two asteroids previously, while using a different telescope. But the researchers weren’t sure whether water or another molecular compound like hydroxyl caused the hydration, Arredondo said.
“Our new observations with SOFIA definitely said that what they saw was water,” Arredondo said. “But these objects are part of the S class of asteroids, meaning they are made mostly of silicates, and until Dr. McAdam’s results, they were assumed to be completely dry.”
The amount of water the team detected was roughly equivalent to that of a 12-ounce bottle of water trapped inside a cubic meter of soil, Arredondo said, which is comparable to SOFIA’s lunar find. The telescope detected the signature of water molecules in one of the largest craters in the moon’s southern hemisphere in 2020..
Like water found on the lunar surface, “on asteroids, water can also be bound to minerals, adsorbed to silicate, and trapped or dissolved in silicate impact glass,” Arredondo said.
Asteroids are the remains of the formation of planets in our solar system. Studying their compositions can tell astronomers where in our cosmic neighborhood asteroids originated.
“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 closest to the Sun,” Arredondo said by 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 in Iris and Massalia can help astronomers trace the history of these particular asteroids, suggesting that their formation took place far enough from the sun to prevent the heat from boiling the water.
Researchers tried to search for water on two other asteroids using SOFIA, but the detection was too weak. Now, the team is using the James Webb Space Telescope to focus on different asteroids and look for water signatures.
While Webb’s observations continue, Arredondo said preliminary results have encouraged the team to request time to observe 30 more asteroids using the powerful infrared telescope.
“The JWST telescope is much larger than the SOFIA telescope, so it can collect data with higher quality and can collect data from more asteroids in a shorter period of time,” Arredondo said. “I hope to be able to observe many different asteroids with JWST to look for this water signature and hopefully be able to inventory the water in the asteroid belt.”
Webb could help astronomers better understand the distribution of water in the solar system, as well as the composition of different types of asteroids.
“We really didn’t expect to find water on these silicate-rich asteroids,” Arredondo said. “Mainly when we talk about hydration in asteroids, we are referring to asteroids richer in carbon, such as benu asteroid where NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission went. So now I want to look for trends between (the) amount of hydration and composition. “I want to know if carbon-rich asteroids have significantly more water than silicate-rich asteroids, or if they have similar amounts.”