https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. New tools unlock new discoveries in science. So when a new type of non-destructive technology becomes widely available, it's inevitable that planetary scientists will get their hands on it to test it on some meteorites. A new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server, by Estrid Naver of the Technical University of Denmark and her co-authors, describes the use of two of those (relatively) new tools to one of the most famous meteorites in the world—NWA 7034—also known as Black Beauty. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-neutron-scans-reveal-hidden-famous.html Astrobiology Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:42:32 EST news689427721 Physicists at the University of Oxford have contributed to a new study which has found that iron-rich asteroids can tolerate far more energy than previously thought without breaking apart—a breakthrough with direct implications for planetary defense strategies. The findings have been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-asteroid-impact-simulation-reveals-hidden.html Astronomy Thu, 08 Jan 2026 12:05:20 EST news687096260 Analysis of the second confirmed interstellar comet to visit our solar system suggests that the alien body could be covered in erupting icy, volcano-like structures called cryovolcanoes. Researchers also discovered that the comet has a metal-rich interior, which could challenge our understanding of how comets formed in our own planetary system. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-interstellar-icy-volcanoes-rewrite-comets.html Space Exploration Wed, 03 Dec 2025 09:50:01 EST news683977271 Since the 1950s, humanity has been searching for extraterrestrial life with increasingly sophisticated tools. But after decades of space probes, meteorite analysis, radio telescopes, and UFO investigations, what have we actually found? A new piece of analysis by a team led by Seyed Sina Seyedpour Layalestani from the Islamic Azad University in Iran has looked at the most compelling evidence to date; from ancient space rocks that fell to Earth carrying the building blocks of life itself. The paper is published in the International Journal of Astrobiology. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-decades-aliens.html Astrobiology Sat, 29 Nov 2025 10:30:01 EST news683548259 One of the most elegant theories about the origins of life on our planet is that it was kick-started by a delivery from outer space. This idea suggests that prebiotic molecules—the building blocks of life—were transported here by asteroids or other celestial bodies. While these molecules have been found in meteorite samples that have crash-landed on Earth, the findings have been complicated by the possibility of contamination from our environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-asteroid-amino-acids-clues-life.html Astrobiology Sat, 29 Nov 2025 09:30:01 EST news683569584 When a meteor streaks across the sky, it's not just beautiful. It's nature's way of delivering a time capsule to Earth. Contained within are hints about the very beginning of the solar system and how planets, including our own, formed. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-meteorite-samples-capsules-early-solar.html Astrobiology Thu, 27 Nov 2025 11:20:02 EST news683212821 A machine learning framework can distinguish molecules made by biological processes from those formed through non-biological processes and could be used to analyze samples returned by current and future planetary missions. The findings are published in the journal PNAS Nexus. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-machine-framework-scan-extraterrestrial-life.html Astrobiology Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:54:32 EST news682682069 On Sunday November 2, people in eastern Victoria witnessed a bright streak across the sky followed by a loud sonic boom that felt like an earthquake. The event was captured by security cameras and mobile phones. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-meteorite-space-experts.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 13 Nov 2025 19:50:02 EST news682256462 Exoplanet scientists are eagerly awaiting the discovery of an atmosphere around a terrestrial exoplanet. Not a thin, tenuous, barely perceptible collection of molecules, but a thick, robust, potentially life-supporting atmosphere. Due to the way we detect exoplanets, most of the terrestrial planets we find are orbiting red dwarfs (M dwarfs). https://phys.org/news/2025-11-impacts-regenerate-exoplanet-atmospheres-red.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 05 Nov 2025 11:37:04 EST news681565021 In the beginning, Earth was a violent place with no atmosphere to soften the blow. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-meteorite-slammed-western-australia-billions.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 28 Oct 2025 08:59:40 EDT news680860775 New research from Rice University suggests that the giant planet Jupiter reshaped the early solar system in dramatic ways, carving out rings and gaps that ultimately explain one of the longest-standing puzzles in planetary science: why many primitive meteorites formed millions of years after the first solid bodies. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-planetary-scientists-link-jupiter-birth.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:30:01 EDT news680369225 Scientists at MIT and elsewhere have discovered extremely rare remnants of "proto Earth," which formed about 4.5 billion years ago, before a colossal collision irreversibly altered the primitive planet's composition and produced Earth as we know today. Their findings, reported today in the journal Nature Geosciences, will help scientists piece together the primordial starting ingredients that forged early Earth and the rest of the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-geologists-evidence-billion-year-proto.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 14 Oct 2025 10:10:04 EDT news679654824 With help from amateur astronomers, scientists tracked how an asteroid traveled from space, broke up in Earth's atmosphere and sent fiery fragments shooting to the ground, gathering new information about how these space rocks disintegrate. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-amateur-astronomers-track-asteroid-french.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 21 Sep 2025 17:00:01 EDT news677501992 In a scientific breakthrough with cosmic implications, researchers have, for the first time, precisely dated the emergence of microbial life within a meteorite impact crater—revealing that life not only survives catastrophe, but thrives in its aftermath. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-life-impact-discovery-links-microbial.html Astrobiology Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:44:57 EDT news677321095 While the early climate of Mars remains an open question, a new study suggests that its atmosphere may have been hospitable to life due to volcanic activity that emitted sulfur gases that contributed to a greenhouse warming effect. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-volcanic-emissions-reactive-sulfur-gases.html Astrobiology Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:19:04 EDT news676822741 Four and a half billion years ago, Jupiter rapidly grew to its massive size. Its powerful gravitational pull disrupted the orbits of small rocky and icy bodies similar to modern asteroids and comets, called planetesimals. This caused them to smash into each other at such high speeds that the rocks and dust they contained melted on impact and created floating molten rock droplets, or chondrules, that we find preserved in meteorites today. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-molten-raindrops-history-jupiter-formation.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 25 Aug 2025 05:00:06 EDT news675073802 The recent auction of a Martian meteorite—for a record-grabbing $5.3 million at Sotheby's New York—has sparked questions over its provenance and renewed debate over who gets to claim rocks fallen from the heavens. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-auction-world-largest-mars-meteorite.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 13 Aug 2025 03:41:32 EDT news674275285 A mysterious extraterrestrial visitor now has a permanent home and identity, thanks to University of Georgia researchers. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-world-meteorite.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:39:04 EDT news674145541 The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday. But a rare young dinosaur skeleton stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-largest-piece-mars-earth-meteoric.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:26:11 EDT news671901966 For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-biggest-piece-mars-earth-auction.html Space Exploration Sun, 13 Jul 2025 04:55:52 EDT news671601343 A small, inconspicuous meteorite may be about to change our understanding of how and when our solar system formed. Tiny shavings from the meteorite Northwest Africa 12264 are challenging the long-held belief that planets near the sun formed earlier than those beyond the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-meteorite-timeline-early-solar.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 07 Jul 2025 11:05:40 EDT news671105129 It only took Ed Albin a few steps on Sunday to spot it as he wandered onto an empty construction site in Henry County, about 45 minutes southeast of Atlanta. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-meteorite-hunters-treasures-fireball-streaks.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:00:01 EDT news670489119 Most meteorites that have reached Earth come from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. But we have 1,000 or so meteorites that come from the moon and Mars. This is probably a result of asteroids hitting their surfaces and ejecting material toward our planet. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-mystery-mercury-meteorites.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:29:04 EDT news670087741 It can be found inside gas giants such as Jupiter and is briefly created during meteorite impacts or in laser fusion experiments: warm dense matter. This exotic state of matter combines features of solid, liquid and gaseous phases. Until now, simulating warm dense matter accurately has been considered a major challenge. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-enables-exotic-state.html General Physics Wed, 25 Jun 2025 15:21:38 EDT news670083690 Scientists and engineers at the University of Nottingham have measured the stiffness of space rock for the first time. Many meteorites are made of crystalline materials, formed under exotic conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth. The stiffness of the crystals that make up these materials has historically been difficult to measure and normally this requires scientists to grow a special single crystal, which in this case is not possible. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-laser-ultrasound-reveal-elasticity-space.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 16 May 2025 09:30:04 EDT news666606602 We've discovered that a meteorite struck northwest Scotland 1 billion years ago, 200 million years later than previously thought. Our results are published today in the journal Geology. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-billion-years-meteorite-struck-scotland.html Earth Sciences Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:29:45 EDT news665148581 New Curtin University research has revealed that a massive meteorite struck northwestern Scotland about 200 million years later than previously thought, in a discovery that not only rewrites Scotland's geological history but alters our understanding of the evolution of non-marine life on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-billion-year-impact-scotland-life.html Earth Sciences Tue, 29 Apr 2025 09:45:03 EDT news665138701 Carbon-containing meteorites look like they had less severe impacts than those without carbon because the evidence was blasted into space by gases produced during the impact. The Kobe University discovery not only solves a 30-year-old mystery, but also provides guidelines for a future sampling mission to Ceres. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-astrophysicists-mystery-meteorites.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 24 Apr 2025 07:06:31 EDT news664697186 A bright object, initially appearing to be a meteorite, lit up the skies over Mexico's capital around 3 a.m. Wednesday, stretching over plains, volcanoes and small towns. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-fireball-mexico-city-skies-awe.html Space Exploration Thu, 17 Apr 2025 04:08:56 EDT news664081732 Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites—ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through Earth's atmosphere. Among meteorites, one type—called carbonaceous chondrites—stands out as the most primitive and provides a unique glimpse into the solar system's infancy. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-meteorites-earth-asteroid-bits-brought.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 15 Apr 2025 03:50:01 EDT news663857135