Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Asteroids, comets and Kuiper belt are bodies smaller than planets that orbit the sun. Asteroids are composed of metals and rock, whereas comets also contain ice and dust. The Kuiper belt is a collection of such bodies that orbits at the edge of the solar system.
Studies of samples of asteroid Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa-2 mission show that the action of water and organic material on carbonaceous asteroids lead to the widespread occurrence of micron-sized polymeric organic particles encapsulating clays and biological relevant molecules.
In this study, the authors report primordial aqueous alteration signatures in water-soluble organic molecules from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu. This provides evidence o coevolutionary aqueous alteration between water and organics in this asteroid.
Centaur 29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 1 exhibits a fascinating outgassing pattern in JWST observations, with compositional heterogeneities that may be related to the bilobate nature of its nucleus. The detection of CO and CO2 isotopologues is also reported.
Asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have been linked to collisional families in the main belt, but their surface ages suggest younger parents than their putative families. Here, the authors show numerical simulations that suggest these asteroids are likely remnants of later disruptions of original family members.
Atmospheric entry of asteroids or comets can cause significant damage to Earth. Two international bodies, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) are working on dealing with potential threats.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, emphasizes the importance of conserving wild plant species, plus a wonderstruck sky-watcher spots a brilliant meteor, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb says that an interstellar meteor showered Earth with particles. At a planetary-science conference this week, researchers begged to differ.
The successful impact of NASA’s DART on Dimorphos, the moon of asteroid Didymos, has been analysed using advanced numerical simulations. The results reveal the asteroid’s low surface cohesion and rubble-pile structure, similar to what has been observed on asteroids Ryugu and Bennu.
It’s been an eventful year for robotic missions. From probes of Solar System bodies to large-scale cosmic structures, advances in our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Universe gather speed.