[meteorite-list] Researchers Find Possible Precursors To Early Life On Earth In Tagish Lake Meteorite

From: Eric Twelker <twelker_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:53:34 2004
Message-ID: <BA1E1328.F312%twelker_at_alaska.net>

For those of you that don't yet have a piece of Tagish Lake, we still have
some for sale.

    Regards,

    Eric Twelker
    twelker_at_alaska.net
    http://www.meteoritemarket.com

> From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 10:20:42 -0800 (PST)
> To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List)
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Researchers Find Possible Precursors To Early Life
> On Earth In Tagish Lake Meteorite
>
>
> http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/news/releases/2002/J02-122.html
>
> December 11, 2002
>
> Catherine E. Watson
> Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
> (Phone: 281/483-5111)
>
> Release: #J02-122
>
> RESEARCHERS FIND POSSIBLE PRECURSORS TO EARLY LIFE ON EARTH IN
> METEORITE
>
> In a study published today in the "International Journal of
> Astrobiology," researchers state that a meteorite that fell to
> Earth over northwestern Canada in January 2000 contains a
> previously unseen type of primitive organic material that was
> formed long before our own solar system came into being.
>
> The Tagish Lake meteorite fell to Earth over the Yukon
> Territory of Canada on Jan. 18, 2000. Parts of the meteorite
> were collected and kept frozen in an unprecedented level of
> cleanliness to ensure that it was not contaminated by any
> terrestrial sources.
>
> Through extensive testing using, in part, electron
> microscopes, the researchers found numerous hollow,
> bubble-like hydrocarbon globules in the meteorite. They
> believe these organic globules, the first found in any natural
> sample, are very similar to those produced in laboratory
> simulations designed to recreate the initial conditions
> present when life first formed in the universe.
>
> "While not of biological origin themselves, these globules
> would have served very well to protect and nurture primitive
> organisms on Earth," said Dr. Michael Zolensky, an author of
> the paper and a researcher in the Office of Astromaterials
> Research and Exploration Science at NASA's Johnson Space
> Center in Houston. "They would have been ready-made homes for
> early life forms."
>
> The type of meteorite in which the globules were found is also
> so fragile that it generally breaks up into dust during its
> entry into Earth's atmosphere, scattering its organic contents
> across a wide swath.
>
> "If, as we suspect, this type of meteorite has been falling
> onto Earth throughout its entire history, then the Earth was
> provided with these hydrocarbon globules at the same time life
> was first forming here," Zolensky said. "We were exceedingly
> fortunate that this particular meteorite was so large that
> some pieces survived to be recovered on the ground."
>
> Last year, researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in
> Moffett Field, Calif., announced that they had made basically
> identical hydrocarbon globules in the laboratory from
> materials present in the early solar system and interstellar
> space.
>
> "What we have now shown is that that these globules were in
> fact made naturally in the early solar system, and have been
> falling to Earth throughout time," Zolensky said.
>
> The researchers believe the Tagish Lake meteorite came from
> the outer asteroid belt, toward Jupiter, and that similar
> organic materials may have been falling onto the moons of
> Jupiter, including Europa.
>
> "It is interesting to speculate about the presence of these
> organics in the ocean we believe may be present under the ice
> cap of this moon," Zolensky said.
>
> A team of five researchers collaborated on the two-year study.
> The team was led by Keiko Nakamura of Kobe University in
> Japan, who was funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion
> of Science. Nakamura is now working at JSC under a
> postdoctoral grant from the U.S. National Research Council.
> Co-authors of the study include Zolensky, who was funded by
> the NASA Cosmochemistry Program; Satoshi Tomita and Kazushige
> Tomeoka, both of Kobe University, who were funded by the Japan
> Society for the Promotion of Science and the Japanese Ministry
> of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, respectively; and
> Satoru Nakashima of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, who was
> also funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
>
> -end-
>
>
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Received on Thu 12 Dec 2002 02:19:20 PM PST