Looking for life in a piece of heaven

A exclusive meteorite that could hold clues to the birth of our solar system may now be considered as reached London, the Natural History Museum (NHM). The Ivuna meteorite, which until now was part of a private collection of an American, has the same chemical makeup than the solar system formed about 4,500 million years.

Ivuna landed in Tanzania in 1938 and was a rock of 750 grams which was then divided into several samples.

Pieces of the British sample, the largest public collection in the world, will be used in the study.

Most Ivuna samples are held by individuals or the government of Tanzania. Tell me what you're ... The chemical makeup of Ivuna, which is equal to that of the Sun, is extremely rare: only nine of the 35,000 meteorites identified, or 0.03%, share this composition.  A specimen is particularly important for science because it is so well preserved. We are all incredibly excited because it is so pristine

Caroline Smith, Natural History Museum, London

T

he curator of the MHN, Caroline Smith, told the BBC that "this type of meteorite is very susceptible to alteration on Earth. Humidity changes, for example, can change the composition. "But this is important as meteorite fell relatively recently and has been kept under nitrogen in a sealed environment over the past two or three decades."

"It is a particularly important specimen to science because it is so well preserved. Everyone is incredibly excited as pristine as it is."

The chemistry of life

Meanwhile, Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary Sciences of the British Open University, said: "This material is part of the crumbs which were watered when the solar system was format’s An incredible opportunity to study it closely." One of the questions that might help answer Ivuna is how they got the "bricks" chemicals of life on Earth.

Important components of the material called pregenetico, amino acids b-almandine and glycogen, were found in Ivuna in a 2001 study. Last week, scientists at Imperial College London confirmed that a meteorite called Murchison contained extraterrestrial molecules that were the precursors of DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Besides being used for research, Ivuna be one of the stars in the new museum gallery meteorites.