{"id":86961,"date":"2025-08-23T07:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T07:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/86961\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T07:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T07:58:08","slug":"nasa-spacecraft-collects-dust-older-than-the-sun-from-an-asteroid-more-than-200million-miles-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/86961\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA spacecraft collects dust older than the sun from an asteroid more than 200million miles away"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER <\/p>\n

Published: 20:11 EDT, 22 August 2025 | Updated: 20:12 EDT, 22 August 2025 <\/p>\n

Dust collected from an asteroid by a NASA<\/a> spacecraft more than 200 million miles away from Earth contains material that is older than the sun.<\/p>\n

Scientists have analysed samples from the Bennu asteroid, which resembles the Death Star space station in the Star Wars<\/a> films, and found it is ‘chemically primitive’.<\/p>\n

It contained ‘presolar grains’ which are stardust that formed around dying stars billions of years ago.<\/p>\n

The samples provide a glimpse into the outer Solar System<\/a> during the birth of the sun and are more pristine than any meteorite on Earth, according to a team of researchers.<\/p>\n

NASA spacecraft Osiris Rex briefly touched the surface of Bennu with a robotic arm and collected 120g of material<\/a> which was put into a capsule before it returned to earth in 2023.<\/p>\n

Scientists have now pieced together the asteroid’s origins going back over 4.5billion years.<\/p>\n

Professor Jessica Barnes, of the University of Arizona, who is one of the authors of the study, said: ‘Our data suggest that Bennu’s parent asteroid formed in the outer parts of the solar system, possibly beyond the orbit of Saturn.’<\/p>\n

The chemical analysis of the asteroid sample found a mixture of other material including organic matter from the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium which is gas and dust between star systems.<\/p>\n

\"Scientists <\/p>\n

Scientists have analysed samples from the Bennu asteroid (pictured), which resembles the Death Star space station in the Star Wars films, and found it is ‘chemically primitive’<\/p>\n

\"NASA <\/p>\n

NASA spacecraft Osiris Rex (pictured returning to Earth from space in September 2023) briefly touched the surface of Bennu with a robotic arm and collected 120g of material which was put into a capsule before it returned to earth in 2023\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The samples provide a glimpse into the outer Solar System during the birth of the sun. Pictured: The Osiris Rex sample collector in 2023 with material from the Bennu asteroid<\/p>\n

It also discovered high temperature materials which are believed to have formed near the sun before it drifted outwards.<\/p>\n

Professor Sara Russell, planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum and another author of the study, said: ‘We’re looking at a unique snapshot of the outer Solar System at [the time of] the birth of our sun.<\/p>\n

‘Some of these grains have survived billions of years of Solar System evolution almost untouched and can tell us more about the environment in which planets were born.’<\/p>\n

The discovery paints a picture into the formation of our Solar System.<\/p>\n

It comes after scientists announced earlier this year that it contained the building blocks of life.<\/p>\n

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