Oxygen isotopes of anhydrous primary minerals show kinship between asteroid Ryugu and comet 81P/Wild2 | Science Advances

The extraterrestrial materials returned from asteroid (162173) Ryugu consist predominantly of low-temperature aqueously formed secondary minerals and are chemically and mineralogically similar to CI (Ivuna-type) carbonaceous chondrites. Here, we show that high-temperature anhydrous primary minerals in Ryugu and CI chondrites exhibit a bimodal distribution of oxygen isotopic compositions: ¹⁶ O-rich (associated with refractory inclusions) and ¹⁶ O-poor (associated with chondrules). Both the ¹⁶ O-rich and ¹⁶ O-poor minerals probably formed in the inner solar protoplanetary disk and were subsequently transported outward. The abundance ratios of the ¹⁶ O-rich to ¹⁶ O-poor minerals in Ryugu and CI chondrites are higher than in other carbonaceous chondrite groups but are similar to that of comet 81P/Wild2, suggesting that Ryugu and CI chondrites accreted in the outer Solar System closer to the accretion region of comets.