Complete Slice of NWA 7502

THE EARLIEST PLANETARY BUILDING BLOCKS

NWA 7502 is a gorgeous carbonaceous chondrite displaying hundreds of light-colored chondrules in a slightly darker matrix. From a group of meteorites known as the "Renazzo-like chondrites," NWA 7502 is a time capsule from the earliest days of the solar system. Renazzo-like chondrites such as NWA 7502 are incredibly pristine, meaning they experienced very little heating in the early days of the formation of the solar system. This is because these meteorites are thought to originate from a single asteroid far out in the solar system, one of the last chondritic asteroids to come together. As such, most short-lived radioactive isotopes had already decayed and therefore this asteroid did not experience the intense heating and chondrule deformation found in earlier-formed chondritic meteorites.

In addition to helping us understand the early solar system and planetary accretion, meteorites like NWA 7502 can help us understand the universe before our solar system even came into existence. This slice contains presolar grains — literal stardust — from stars that existed before the creation of our solar system. They accreted and survived in asteroids that did not experience much alteration, made available to us from the primitive chondrites that reach Earth. Presolar grains provide researchers with a wealth of information about stellar nucleosynthesis (the creation of elements in stars through nuclear fusion) and help us understand the earliest stages of protoplanet formation.

Organic molecules are also abundant in Renazzo-like chondrites, giving us important insight into the building blocks of life on Earth (and possibly elsewhere).

REFERENCES:

Meteoritical Bulletin Entry for NWA 7502