Meteorite that Landed in New Jersey Contains Otherworldly Chemistry, Researchers Say
Researchers say the rare rock contains amino acids and carboxylic acids, offering clues to how asteroids may have delivered life’s ingredients to Earth.
- On July 16, 2024, a massive meteor entered Earth's atmosphere at 32,000 miles per hour, rattling New York City with a sonic boom before a two-pound fragment crashed into a master bedroom in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
- Scientists classified the rock as a rare CM 1/2 "hybrid" meteorite, a category sitting between meteorites heavily altered by water and those mostly dry, containing salt-rich fragments from a primitive asteroid.
- Because the homeowner used gloves and jars to seal the fragments, scientists received pristine samples. NASA astrobiologist Danny Glavin and his team at the Goddard Space Flight Center analyzed the rock, discovering amino acids and carboxylic acids.
- Glavin's team suggests these space rocks functioned as a cosmic delivery service, dropping off a chemical "starter pack" of organic molecules that were "cooked" inside the asteroid using salty brine to brew life's recipe.
- Fragments of the historic meteorite are headed to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. This study, published in Science Advances, provides evidence of ancient, salty alien oceans and extraterrestrial building blocks for life.
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26 Articles
A 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite crashed into a New Jersey home, and scientists found clues about the origins of life
Science News: A small piece of space history arrived through the roof of a New Jersey house. The meteorite that struck a home in Hillsborough in 2024 was not just a.
Meteorite that struck New Jersey home reveals ancient asteroid brine
A meteorite that crashed through the roof of a Hillsborough, New Jersey, home in 2024 has turned out to be one of the most scientifically valuable space rocks ever recovered, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
Rarest event: a meteorite that washed up in 2024 in a house in New Jersey contained complex organic molecules and traces of salt water, all meticulously preserved by the couple of owners
'Alien chemistry' discovered in rare meteorite that crashed through New Jersey home
Scientists say a rare meteorite that crashed through a New Jersey home contains ancient salty minerals and organic compounds that could reveal how the building blocks of life formed in space.
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