Asteroids, small airless bodies within the inner solar system, are theorized to have contributed water and chemical building ...

A big question in the origin of life on Earth is why it is based solely on "left-handed" amino acids. Studies on asteroid Bennu's chemical building blocks deepens the mystery. When NASA launched a ...

This figure illustrates key molecules and minerals discovered in samples of near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu, which were delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in September 2023. Bennu is a ...

The "JWST spectroscopy of (142) Polana: Connection to NEAs (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu" paper is published in the Planetary Science Journal. "Very early in the formation of the solar system, we ...

The research shows the asteroid likely is made of compounds that came from different parts of the proto-planetary disk that made the solar system.

(Nanowerk News) Rock and dust samples brought back from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu contain organic matter, including amino acids and all five DNA and RNA bases, as well as salts that formed early ...

A groundbreaking study recently published in the Planetary Science Journalhas raised the possibility that asteroids Bennu, Ryugu, and Polana may all be fragments of a common parent body. The paper, ...

The OSIRIS-REx mission collected a sample from the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 101955 Bennu, revealing its "rubble pile" structure and composition, including potential biogenic components. Bennu is ...

Scientists detected all five nucleobases -- building blocks of DNA and RNA -- in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases ...