3/9/2023 0 Comments Black meteoriteThis half-century parade of discoveries jump-started the now-flourishing field of astrobiology. Murchison also contained nucleobases, the building blocks of genetic molecules such as RNA, and in November 2019, researchers found a major component of RNA's backbone: the sugar molecule ribose. Hundreds more amino acids have been inferred but not yet identified. To date, scientists have recognized nearly 100 different amino acids in it, many used by organisms on Earth and many others rare or nonexistent in known life. Geology students helped collect about 100 kilograms of Murchison, and a local postmaster mailed pieces of it to labs across the world. They illustrate how chemical reactions in space give rise to complex precursors for life some scientists even believe rocks like Aguas Zarcas gave life a nudge when they crashed into a barren Earth 4.5 billion years ago.įrom the beginning, the inky Aguas Zarcas resembled a legendary carbonaceous chondrite that exploded in 1969 over Murchison, an Australian cattle town. But true to their name, carbonaceous chondrites are rich in carbon-and not just boring, inorganic carbon, but also organic molecules as complex as amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The vast majority of meteorites are lumps of stone or metal. CUADRA/ SCIENCE (DATA) LUCKE ET AL., REVISTA GEOLÓGICA DE AMÉRICA CENTRAL, 61, 9-22 (2019) LILLIANA RODRÍGUEZ/NATIONAĪguas Zarcas, as the fragments would soon collectively be called, is a carbonaceous chondrite, a pristine remnant of the early Solar System. The dull stone was, as far as rocks go, practically alive. And even among that exclusive group, there was something extraordinary about this particular meteorite, something anyone with the right knowledge could know from the first pictures. But meteorite falls, witnessed strikes that take their name from where they land, are rare-just 1196 have been documented. More than 60,000 have been found and classified by scientists. Meteorites are not uncommon: Every year, tens of thousands survive the plunge through Earth's atmosphere. A space rock the size of a washing machine had broken up in the skies over the village, and the excitement was about to spread globally. Within hours, a local journalist visited the house and streamed videos of the damage on Facebook Live. The family added its own viral messages to the mix: photos of Campos Muñoz and her son holding the big stone that crashed through her roof. Already, her phone was chiming with WhatsApp messages from friends telling of blazing fireballs and rocks raining down on farms and fields. She picked up the biggest fragment, still warm to the touch. The culprit was scattered on the floor, in pieces as black as coal. On the terrace, they found a grapefruit-size hole in the corrugated zinc roof and a smashed-up plastic table, last used for the quinceañera of Campos Muñoz's daughter. She ducked back inside, just before a blast on the back terrace rattled the house to its bones.Ĭampos Muñoz phoned her father, brother, and oldest son, who rushed to the house. Heart racing, she tiptoed outside to calm her barking dog, Perry, and to check on the cow pastures ringing her small house in Aguas Zarcas, a village carved out of Costa Rica's tropical rainforest. It was 23 April 2019, a bit past 9 p.m., when she heard a foreboding rumble. As the fiery emissary streaked across the skies of Costa Rica, an unearthly mix of orange and green, Marcia Campos Muñoz was in her pajamas, watching TV on the couch.
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