This protective layer of space diamonds has helped Hypatia last so long, preserving the rock for geologists to study today.īut perhaps the best indications that the Hypatia stone-or components of it-formed before the solar system are the mineral grains, the fruits and nuts of the fruit cake. These polyaromatic hydrocarbons are the the components of the stone that turned to diamond from the heat and pressure of entering Earth's atmosphere and then impacting the Sahara Desert. "Interstellar dust is also found in comets and meteorites that have not been heated up for a prolonged period in their history." "Even more unusual, the matrix contains a high amount of very specific carbon compounds, called polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAH, a major component of interstellar dust, which existed even before our solar system was formed," says Kramers. Not only that, but the mineral matrix of Hypatia also contains a significant amount of interstellar dust not generally seen in the rocky stuff of the solar system. In other words, most of the rock in the Hypatia stone has the opposite ratio of carbons to silicons that you find in the vast majority of the asteroid belt as well as the planets Earth, Mars, and Venus. But Hypatia's matrix has a massive amount of carbon and an unusually small amount of silicon." "In chondritic meteorites, we expect to see a small amount of carbon and a good amount of silicon. "If it were possible to grind up the entire planet Earth to dust in a huge mortar and pestle, we would get dust with on average a similar chemical composition as chondritic meteorites," Kramers says in a press release, referring to chondrites, non-metallic meteorites that account for about 86% of all meteorites. The elements are the same-carbon and silicon and aluminum and iron-but the ratios of these elements in the material are all wrong, unlike the compositions of objects that orbit the sun. They found that many compounds in the stone seem to have formed prior to the sun and planets. Using sophisticated electron microscopy to determine the compositions of microscopic parts of the Hypatia stone, Kramers and fellow geologists at the University of Johannesburg identified the parts of the rock that were not added when it impacted Earth.
![lookthrough rock lookthrough rock](https://joidesresolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_0002.jpg)
The mineral matrix that makes up most of the rock is represented by the cake dough, while mineral grains embedded in the matrix are like the nuts and fruits, and the flour it fell into represents material that the Hypatia stone picked up when it impacted the Earth. Kramers, who led the 2013 study that identified the Hypatia stone as extraterrestrial, describes the rock's structure as similar to a fruit cake that has fallen into a pile of flour and cracked. "The assembly probably occurred in the early solar nebula." "We think that many compounds (polyaromatic hydrocarbons, silicon carbide, nickel phosphide compound, native metal inclusions) are presolar," Jan Kramers, a geochemistry professor at the University of Johannesburg who has studied the Hypatia stone for years, told Popular Mechanics in an email. The researchers therefore conclude that parts of the rock formed before the solar system, and if these compounds are not presolar, the prevailing idea that the solar system formed from a nebula of homogenous gas is called into question.
![lookthrough rock lookthrough rock](https://img.bidorbuy.co.za/image/upload/user_images/906/394906_091111161341_obs5.jpg)
A new study led by geologists at the University of Johannesburg found that compounds in the Hypatia stone are distinct from anything discovered in the solar system. Unlike any known meteorite, researchers originally believed the Hypatia stone was the first sample of a comet nucleus.īut it seems the space rock has a much more interesting past. In 2013, geologists studying the Hypatia stone confirmed the rock was of extraterrestrial origin.
![lookthrough rock lookthrough rock](https://s15753.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/il_fullxfull.620803583_qwva__54772.jpg)
Barakat was studying Libyan desert glass, which appears to be similar to sea glass from the ocean, except geologists believe it might have formed roughly 28 million years ago in a meteorite impact.īarakat immediately recognized the unique significance of the glossy stone, lined with microscopic diamonds, and he suspected that it did not come from Earth. Named for Hypatia of Alexandria, the first prominent Western woman astronomer and mathematician, the colorful rock was found in 1996 in western Egypt by Aly Barakat, a geologist working for the Egyptian Geological Survey. The Hypatia stone is only a few centimeters across, broken into pebble fragments, but it may very well be the most interesting rock in the world.
![lookthrough rock lookthrough rock](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Wx44L_l2vJo/maxresdefault.jpg)
MARIO DI MARTINO/INAF OSSERVATORIO ASTROFYSICO DI TORINO