Meteorites carry clues that are pivotal in exploring the history of our Solar System, yet they don’t all look the same after impact. Colliding with a planetary surface sends shockwaves through meteorites, changing their configuration in various ways. Scientists noticed, though, that meteorites containing carbon often appear as if they experienced less intense impacts and look less “shocked” than meteorites without carbon. A new study has discovered that this is because evidence from these meteorites blasts back into space after impact. The study, published in Nature Communications, solves a long-standing mystery that changes how meteorites are viewed. This improved understanding could even prove useful for future space missions to obtain samples from other planetary bodies like Ceres, a dwarf planet that may have supported life in the past.Evaluating Meteorite Shock Effects Stony meteorites called chondrites, formed over 4 billion years ago, have given scientists a glimpse of the early Solar System. They are separated into multiple classes based on their chemical composition and mineral makeup; Carbonaceous chondrites (C chondrites), for example, tend to contain carbon compounds and water.The appearance of chondrites that crash into a larger planetary body like Earth is measured through a shock classification system, with stages ranging from S1 (unshocked) to S6 (very strongly shocked). The shock effects become increasingly glaring with each successive stage, seen in the condition of minerals within the chondrites: lower stages usually have minor fracturing, while higher stages start to display more evidence of melting.Blasting Meteorites into SpaceThe researchers involved with the new study aimed to find out why carbonaceous chondrites don’t show significant shock effects, making it seem like they collided at lower speeds. A previous theory suggested that an impact would create degassed vapor from water-containing minerals in the meteorite, sending evidence of shock flying into space. However, this process was never tested to see if it could produce enough water vapor to trigger such an effect. In addition, there are some chondrites without water-containing minerals that still appear less shocked.The researchers suspected there was a different explanation behind this meteorite mystery. To find answers, they used a two-stage light gas gun connected to a sample chamber. This allowed them to launch small pellets that would hit samples modeled after meteorites with and without carbon. The gases produced by the impact were then collected and analyzed. This experiment revealed that impacts on carbon-containing meteorites cause chemical reactions that “produce extremely hot carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases,” according to a statement on the study. This chemical reaction would be able to expel a meteorite's shock evidence into space.“We found that the momentum of the ensuing explosion is enough to eject the surrounding highly-shocked rock material into space. Such explosions occur on carbon-rich meteorites, but not on carbon-poor ones,” said author Kosuke Kurosawa, an astrophysicist at Kobe University in Japan, in a press release. Chondrites Beyond EarthCarbonaceous chondrites are rare on Earth (only making up 4 percent of all meteorite finds), but they reach other planetary bodies in the inner Solar System as well. One such location is Ceres, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The researchers say that Ceres’ gravity may be strong enough to pull material ejected from chondrite impacts back to its surface. As a result, the dwarf planet likely has an abundance of highly shocked material, which could be an important target for future sampling missions there. Since carbonaceous chondrites represent remnants of the early Solar System and possess various organic compounds, they may provide key information about life in space.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Nature Communications. Impact-driven oxidation of organics explains chondrite shock metamorphism dichotomyMeteoritics & Planetary Science. Revising the shock classification of meteoritesScience Direct. Carbonaceous ChondriteJack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.