Never Before Seen Organic Matter Found in Sutter's Mill Meteorite

The Sutter's Mill meteorite which came down to Earth in a blinding fireball in April 2012, contains organic molecules never before seen in any previous meteorites, according to the latest analysis of the fragments by researchers at Arizona State University.

The composition of the meteorite suggests a far-greater availability of extraterrestrial organic matter than ever thought possible, the researchers report in their paper, which is to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Research published on the meteorite in the months following its decent revealed that it entered the atmosphere at a record-breaking 28.6 kilometers per second, the fastest ever recorded, according to Nature.

The composition of the space rock is also rare. As a "carbonaceous chondrite" the Sutter's Mill meteorite is a cosmic time capsule, largely unaltered since the formation of the solar system began about 4.5 billion years ago, Nature reported.

By using Doppler radar to quickly track and locate the meteorite fragments as they fell from the sky, scientists were provided with the most pristine samples of a primitive meteorite ever collected.

"The analyses of meteorites never cease to surprise you ... and make you wonder," Sandra Pizzarello, a research professor at Arizona State University who participated in the research, said in a statement. "This is a meteorite whose organics had been found altered by heat and of little appeal for bio- or prebiotic chemistry, yet, the very Solar System processes that lead to its alteration seem also to have brought about novel and complex molecules of definite prebiotic interest such as polyethers."

To determine the compounds present in the meteorite, Pizzarello and her team hydrothermally treated the fragments and then detected compounds released by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The procedure, which mimics conditions on an early-Earth setting, released a complex mixture of oxygen-rich organic compounds and a "bewildering" array of long chain linear and branched polyethers.

Carbonaceous chondrites are believed to be prevalent in the outer reaches of the asteroid belt, which adds to the scientific value of the Sutter's Mill meteorite because researchers know not only its origin, but its composition as well.