Ryugu is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It measures approximately 900 metres (3,000 ft) in diameter and is a dark object of the rare spectral type Cb, with qualities of both a C-type asteroid and a B-type asteroid.

In June 2018, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 arrived at the asteroid. After making measurements and taking samples, Hayabusa2 left Ryugu for Earth in November 2019 and returned the sample capsule to Earth on 5 December 2020.

The samples showed the presence of organic compounds, such as uracil (one of the four components in RNA) and vitamin B3.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    What blows my mind about photos of other bodies in the solar system like Ryugu or even Mars isn’t just the technology or the alien-ness… it’s the fact that there isn’t one microbe worth of life in that photo. That’s basically impossible on Earth. There is life in the deepest trenches and in the stratosphere. In freezing Antarctica and at the rim of volcanoes. Even under volcanoes.

    But that photo of Ryugu? Not so much as a phage or virus, let alone a living thing.

    And that’s most of the universe.

    • Schmoo@slrpnk.netEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      As far as we know, anyway, and we know very little. I don’t think we can say that most of the universe is lifeless with any confidence at this point.

      • roofuskit@kbin.social
        5·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, our inability to find proof of life outside our planet has more to say about our technology than it has to say about whether there is other life out there. It would be quite the leap to confuse our inability to find it with it not being there.

    • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      But that photo of Ryugu? Not so much as a phage or virus, let alone a living thing.

      I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There’s organisms that can survive in space for a very long time, and the probe & lander probably brought some there. Desinfecting space crafts never kills 100% of the microbial life. Also, Ryugu is an asteroid, not a comet - typically formed by collisions of larger bodies. And where there is rock, there was once heat - and if there was water, too, microbes MAY have formed. It’s unlikely that any organism hibernates for millions of years, but not impossible: https://nerdist.com/article/830-million-year-old-microorganisms-could-still-be-alive/

      And that’s most of the universe.

      On this, you are very likely wrong. Unless you count stars & empty space. Chances are that most planets with geological activity have the potential for primitive life forms, and hopefully, the jupiter icy moons explorer and followup missions will give us an idea about extraterrestrial life even within our own solar system.

  • aJazzyFeel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    what if vitamin b3 is really just asteroid material 🤔 and we have part asteroid in us, instead of them having part of us 😌

  • nkiru@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    So if a human was standing on the surface in the photo, could you see them? How large would they be against the background rock?

  • Dr_Fetus_Jackson@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Pics like this I find mildly disturbing. With all of the crazy shit that we witness on earth from day-to-day, it’s still home and where I keep all my stuff. The energy, warmth, and exuberance of life are all elements that are impossibly rare in existence as we know it, and seeing an image that reinforces that it’s not the norm. *shudder

    • dynamojoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      “Organic” in this case just means it contains carbon atoms. That’s the difference between organic and inorganic chemistry IIRC.