Asteroids may contain natural superheavy elements that are not included in the chemical table – scientists

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One of these is asteroid 33 Polyhymnia. It is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Visualization of the asteroid belt. Photo: JPL-Caltech/NASA

It does not have the mass necessary to compress minerals into super-dense forms. At the same time, its composition is difficult to determine due to its small size and great distance from Earth.

A study led by American physicists has shown that the existence of compact superdense objects can be explained by hitherto unknown possible classes of chemical elements denser than osmium (the densest element in the periodic table).

“If asteroids do contain superheavy elements, it will open up many questions about how these elements formed and why we haven’t discovered them outside of asteroids yet.” – says study co-author Johann Rafelski.

Scientists have long debated whether stable elements heavier than oganesone, the last element of the periodic table, can be found in nature. After all, they are very radioactive and decay in milliseconds.

The new calculations are consistent with assumptions about the existence of an “island of stability” – an imaginary region of the periodic table where superheavy elements with atomic numbers around 164 are located. They may not undergo rapid radioactive decay and may exist for short periods of time.

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“All superheavy elements (very unstable and those that are simply not observed) were combined into one – “Unobtanium” (a term used to describe an ideal but unattainable material – ed.).

The idea that some of them might be stable enough to get them out of our solar system is exciting.” – says the physicist.

If superheavy elements exist, they could explain superdense asteroids.

We previously wrote that the Moon may be 40 million years older than previously thought.

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