Scientists have found table salt on the asteroid Itokawa

Nature Astronomy: scientists have found salt crystals on an asteroid

An international team of astronomers studied samples of material from the asteroid Itokawa and found small crystals similar to salt, informs RG.RU. Chemical analysis has shown that these crystals are sodium chloride, better known as table salt. The data obtained by the researchers give new impetus to the hypothesis that most, if not all, of the water on Earth could have entered the planet billions of years ago during its bombardment by asteroids.

For analysis, scientists took samples of material collected from the surface of the Itokawa asteroid in 2005 by the Japanese Hayabusa mission. They were delivered to Earth in 2010. The sample used in the study is a tiny dust particle. A small fragment about 5 microns wide was cut out of it, large enough to cover one yeast cell.

The scientists used a variety of methods to make sure that all of the identified elements are native to the asteroid and not the result of contamination already on Earth, such as that occurred during the preparation of samples for analysis.

It took 5 years to work. The researchers took detailed pictures of the sample at the very beginning of the analysis process and at the end of the five-year period. Then the images were compared, the images show that the distribution of grains of sodium chloride found in the sample did not change inside it. This ruled out the possibility that the discovered salt was of terrestrial origin.

Sodium chloride, or like table salt, is no mystery to scientists. But the discovery of such a crystal on an asteroid has excited scientists, because these crystals are believed to have formed only in the presence of liquid water. And this suggests that asteroids like Itokawa could indeed bring water to Earth.