She sliced an extremely thin sample of the meteorite — so thin it was actually transparent — and looked at it with a specialized electron microscope.
"She noticed these donut-like structures immediately. They're really noticeable and they just jumped right out at her. Once you notice a few, then you look for more and they were everywhere," Messenger said.
The scientists are continuing a difficult chemical analysis of the globules and are looking at other meteorites to see if others contain similar structures.
The globules are impossibly small — on the order of one-trillionth of a gram, says Messenger — so there is not much material to analyze.
The team was able to determine the material was formed in temperatures near absolute zero and deduce that it came from the cold dust cloud from which the solar system was formed.
"These were simple organic compounds free-floating in space and they condensed into something, like forming a raindrop," Messenger said. "It’s astounding to see the globules because we’re seeing how the organic matter formed, possibly in interstellar space. To see that is truly amazing."
Even more provocative is the idea that the material may have been a hull for life to form.
"That doesn't mean these globules have anything to do with being alive," Messenger said, "But forming a structure may be essential for life."
