The big news of the weekend was the Bennu analyses. I didn’t really want to say much, because… we in the field pretty much knew this already. Bennu contains almost all the ingredients of life, because Ryugu contains almost all the ingredients of life, because the Murchison meteorite had contained almost all the ingredients of life, since it fell in 1970.
The reports lay it out, of course, with line items and numerical values and error bars and all the caveats. One caveat missing, from Bennu and Ryugu, is Earth contamination. Unlike the Murchison meteorite, the two spacecraft samples have been under controlled conditions, not sitting in the air and humidity and dust, even briefly. In particular, the forces and gases of atmospheric entry destroy or alter many of the delicate- and therefore interesting- minerals and deposits and organics.
If you weren’t already aware of Murchison and Ryugu, by all means read, and share the knowledge and awareness and wonder we already had. Carbonaceous chondrites (both asteroids and meteorites): the universe is not just more interesting than we imagine, but more interesting than we can imagine.
McCoy, T. J. Russell, S. S. An Evaporite Sequence from Ancient Brine Recorded in Bennu Samples https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08495-6 s41586-024-08495-6
Glavin, D. P. Dworkin, J. P. Alexander, C. M. O’D. et al. Abundant ammonia and nitrogen-rich soluble organic matter in samples from asteroid (101955) Bennu https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02472-9 s41550-024-02472-9