enstatite chondrites tagged posts

A mysterious mineral in asteroid Ryugu may rewrite planetary history

FE-TEM of Ryugu grain No. 15 from sample plate C0105-042, containing the djerfisherite inclusion
Scanning electron micrograph of the number 15 grain of sample plate C0105-042 from Ryugu, in which djerfisherite was discovered. (Hiroshima University/Masaaki Miyahara).

Serendipitous discovery of djerfisherite in Ryugu grain challenges current paradigm of the nature of primitive asteroids. A surprising discovery from a tiny grain of asteroid Ryugu has rocked scientists’ understanding of how our Solar System evolved. Researchers found djerfisherite—a mineral typically born in scorching, chemically reduced conditions and never before seen in Ryugu-like meteorites—inside a sample returned by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission...

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Surface of Mercury Arose from Deep Inside the Planet

A beautiful view of Mercury's horizon. In this scene, which was acquired looking from the shadows toward the sunlit side of the planet, a 120-km (75 mi.) impact crater stands out near the center. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

A beautiful view of Mercury’s horizon. In this scene, which was acquired looking from the shadows toward the sunlit side of the planet, a 120-km (75 mi.) impact crater stands out near the center. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA researchers have found that several volcanic deposits on Mercury’s surface require mantle melting to have started close to the planet’s core-mantle boundary, which lies only 400km below the planets surface and making it unique in the solar system. This is reported at the Goldschmidt conference in Yokohama, Japan. The recent MESSENGER mission to Mercury has shown that the surface of the planet is very heterogeneous, but it can be classified into 2 main types of regions...

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