Most of the meteorite's material is about the same age as our solar system—about 4.5 billion years—and was likely formed at the same time (tour a virtual solar system). But the microscopic organic globules that make up about one-tenth of one percent of the object appear to be far older.

Messenger and colleagues report that isotopic anomalies in the globules suggest that they formed in very cold conditions—near absolute zero. "What's really striking about this is that these globules clearly could not possibly have formed where [the meteorite] itself formed," Messenger said. "Under those extreme conditions the air that you'd breathe would be solid ice. You would never find those conditions in the asteroid belt or anywhere close to the sun."

Labels: Astronomy

Posted by Spluch on 01 December, 2006 at 14:00 | Permalink |