Ancient Stardust Found in Ryugu Asteroid Samples

Samples of the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft contain fragments of stardust that are older than the solar system itself. These foreign fragments, which come from the outer solar system, provide valuable insights into the dynamics and history of our solar system. The clasts, or slivers of rock, found in the Ryugu samples are chemically different from the rest of the asteroid and contain higher concentrations of presolar grains. These grains, which originated from a comet in the Kuiper belt, were incorporated into Ryugu after its formation, shedding light on the unaltered ingredients that formed the solar system.