The team led by the Frankfurt geologist Frank Brenker has made surprising discoveries by examining samples from the asteroid Ryugu.
Brenker, a professor at Goethe University, is part of an international group of scientists who are allowed to examine material from the celestial body.
It was collected by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 and brought to Earth by a landing capsule in 2020.
Analyzes of 16 Ryugu particles have now shown that the asteroid consists of a material with a chemical composition very similar to that of the sun.
In one of the samples, the Frankfurt team found a vein of magnetite – an iron oxide mineral – and hydroxyapatite, a phosphate-containing mineral.
The hydroxyapatite contained rare earth metals, a group of elements used in high-tech alloys and glasses, among other things.
"The rare earths are found in the hydroxyapatite of the asteroid in concentrations that are a hundred times higher than elsewhere in the solar system," says Brenker.
In addition, all elements of the rare earth metals are enriched to the same extent in the phosphate mineral - which is also unusual.
"This equal distribution of rare earths provides further evidence that Ryugu is a very primordial asteroid, representing the beginnings of our solar system."
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