This near-Earth asteroid possibly contains elements not found in the periodic table
asteroid
Millions of asteroids are floating in our solar system in the massive asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and some of them are so close to our planet, that they are deemed to be "near-Earth asteroids".
The majority of these orbiting rocks don't attract any attention, but a handful of asteroids and their compositions have recently fascinated astrophysicists around the world.
That includes scientists at NASA, who have lately been rushing to obtain asteroid samples.
Now in the latest research, a team at the University of Arizona in Tucson while analysing an incredibly dense asteroid named 33 Polyhymnia has made a mystifying discovery. This asteroid is so dense thatit may be made of naturally occurring "superheavy elements" beyond those listed in the periodic table, the research suggests.
"If asteroids do indeed contain superheavy elements, it would open numerous questions surrounding how these elements were formed and why we have not discovered them outside of asteroids yet," study co-author Johann Rafelski, a physics professor at the University of Arizona, told Live Science.
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In a study published in The European Physical Journal Plus in mid-September, researchers deduced that Polyhymnia has a measured density higher than all the elements that exist on Earth.
The team identified Polyhymnia as a compact ultradense object (CUDO), indicating that it might contain superheavy components that were previously unknown to humans. In other words, it comprises elements that are not listed in the periodic table.
These elements would be stable around an atomic number of 164, which is significantly more dense than osmium, the element with the most protons known to exist naturally.
The team's discoveries come as NASAplans to launch unmanned spacecraft to study and potentially return samples from far-off asteroids.
The space agency and the University of Arizona, with the help of Queen guitarist Brian May, recently recovered its first-ever asteroid sample that was successfully transported to Earth late last month.
(With inputs from agencies)
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