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Extraterrestrial materials


Most atoms on Earth came from the interstellar dust and gas from which the Sun and Solar System formed. However, in the space science community, "extraterrestrial materials" generally refers to objects now on Earth that were solidified prior to arriving on Earth. In October 2011, scientists reported that one form of extraterrestrial material, cosmic dust, contains complex organic matter ("amorphous organic solids with a mixed aromatic-aliphatic structure") that could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars. In February 2014, NASA announced a greatly upgraded database for tracking polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the universe. According to scientists, more than 20% of the carbon in the universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life. PAHs seem to have been formed shortly after the Big Bang, are widespread throughout the universe, and are associated with new stars and exoplanets.

To date these fall into a small number of broad categories, namely:

A minor but notable subset of the materials that make up the foregoing collections were also solidified outside of the Solar System. These are often referred to as interstellar materials, some of which are also presolar i.e. they predate the formation of the Solar System.


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