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Credit & Copyright: Keith Beardmore
(LANL)
Explanation:
Scientists have found, unexpectedly, tiny time capsules from
billions of years in the past.
The discovery involves small
molecules that can apparently become trapped
during the formation of large enclosed molecules known as
fullerenes, or
buckyballs.
Luann Becker
(U. Hawaii)
and collaborators recently found fullerenes in an
ancient meteorite
that fell to Earth about 30 years ago.
Extra-terrestrial fullerenes inside the
meteorite survived,
and upon inspection, were
not empty inside.
The small molecules trapped inside are giving a
glimpse of what the
Solar System was like during its formation.
Pictured above is a computer simulation
showing a relatively small fullerene (60-atoms of
carbon) situated above a
hydrogenated silicon surface.
How these
fullerenes
formed, how they survived, where else they can be found,
and what else might be found inside these
tiny time capsules is developing into an exciting
area of research.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: time - fullerenes - cosmogeny
Publications with words: time - fullerenes - cosmogeny
See also: