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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2025 February 12

              Asteroid Bennu Holds the Building Blocks of Life
        Video Credit: Data: NASA, SVS, U. Arizona, CSA, York U., MDA;
   Visualizer: Kel Elkins (lead, SVS); Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech
                                     U.)

   Explanation: What can a space rock tell us about life on Earth? NASA's
   OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a careful approach to the near-Earth
   asteroid 101955 Bennu in October of 2020 to collect surface samples. In
   September 2023, the robotic spaceship returned these samples to Earth.
   A recent analysis has shown, surprisingly, that the samples contained
   14 out of the 20 known amino acids that are the essential building
   blocks of life. The presence of the amino acids re-introduces a big
   question: Could life have originated in space? However, the protein
   building blocks themselves held another surprise -- they contained an
   even mixture of left-handed and right-handed amino acids -- in contrast
   to our Earth which only has left-handed ones. This raises another big
   question: Why does life on Earth have only left-handed amino acids?
   Research on this is sure to continue.

                Tomorrow's picture: interstellar dust clouds
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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