A primordial noble gas component discovered in the Ryugu asteroid and its implications
Ryugu is the C-type asteroid from which material was brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 mission. A number of individual grains and fine-grained samples analysed so far for noble gases have indicated that solar wind and planetary (known as P1) noble gases are present in Ryugu samples with concentrations higher than those observed in CIs, suggesting the former to be more primitive compared to the latter. Here we present results of analyses of three fine-grained samples from Ryugu, in one of which Xe concentration is an order of magnitude higher than determined so far in other samples from Ryugu. Isotopically, this Xe resembles P1, but with a much stronger isotopic fractionation relative to solar wind and significantly lower <sup>36</sup>Ar/<sup>132</sup>Xe ratio than in P1. This previously unknown primordial noble gas component (here termed P7) provides clues to constrain how the solar composition was fractionated to form the planetary components.
Authors
- Kentaro Uesugi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2579-513X)
- Naotaka Tomioka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5725-9513)
- Yuichi Tsuda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9161-6171)
- Masahiro Nishimura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3143-8171)
- I. A. Franchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4151-0480)
- M. M. Grady (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4055-533X)
- Ming‐Chang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-5258)
- Motoo Ito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5686-0243)
- Akira Yamaguchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5140-7853)
- R. C. Greenwood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5544-8027)
- Hayato Yuzawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4129-4407)
- Aiko Nakato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2392-1497)
- Makoto Yoshikawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3118-7475)
- M. Anand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4026-4476)
- S. J. Barber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1408-667X)
- Tatsuaki Okada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6381-8107)
- Masanao Abe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4780-800X)
- Tomohiro Usui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4653-293X)
- Alexander B. Verchovsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3532-5003)
- Fuyuto Terui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6422-0983)
- Toru Yada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7971-510X)
- Takanao Saiki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3100-420X)
- Feargus A. J. Abernethy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7210-3058)
- Satoru Nakazawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4250-1826)
- Masayuki Uesugi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6261-9034)
- Martin D. Suttle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7165-2215)
- Naoki Shirai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0988-8571)
- Akiko Miyazaki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7427-2285)
- Kasumi Yogata (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3717-9185)
- Yuzuru Karouji
- Naoya Imae (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8160-4284)
- Satoshi Tanaka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4874-0417)
- Makoto Kimura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3352-4989)
- Takuji Ohigashi
- Sen-Ichiro Watanabe
Institutions
- National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (JP)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP)
- High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (JP)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP)
- The Open University (GB)
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JP)
- National Institute of Polar Research (JP)
- Kanagawa University (JP)
- Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (FR)
- SPring-8 (JP)
- Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JP)
- Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (JP)
- Institute for Molecular Science (JP)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- The University of Osaka (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-09-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52165-0
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.33
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science