A large group of international researchers, including former BCMS Director and current SESE Director Meenakshi Wadhwa, SESE Research Scientist Vinai Rai, SESE alumna Nicole Phelan, and BCMS Research Professional Rebekah Hines, recently collaborated on a newly published study of samples of the Ryugu asteroid returned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2 mission.
The paper, “Water circulation in Ryugu asteroid affected the distribution of nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies in returned sample” was published this month in the journal Science Advances. In it, the researchers used isotopes of titanium and chromium to shed light on the role of water circulation on Ryugu’s parent body in the distribution of elements on the asteroid.
Read additional coverage of the study here, here, and here.
T. Yokoyama et al. (2023) Water circulation in Ryugu asteroid affected the distribution of nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies in returned sample. Science Advances 9(45): eadi7048. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi7048
