Primary Intelligence Asset
arXiv Expedition
Declassified Public record OCR verified
INTEL
Executive Summary
CHEMICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SPHERULES RECOVERED FROM THE PACIFIC
OCEAN SITE OF THE CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) BOLIDE.
A. Loeb1,2, S.B. Jacobsen2,3, R. Tagle2, T. Adamson2, S. Bergstrom2, J. Cherston 1,2, R. Cloete1,2, S.
Cohen2,7, L. Domine1,2, H. Fu2,3, C. Hoskinson2, E. Hyung2,3, M. Kelly2, E. Lard2, F. Laukien2,6, J. Lem2,5,
R. McCallum2, R. Millsap2, C. Parendo2,3, C. Peddeti2,4, J. Pugh2, S. Samuha2,7, D.D. Sasselov1,2, M.
Schlereth2, J. Siler2, A. Siraj1,2, P.M. Smith2, J. Taylor2, R. Weed2,4,...
Analysis Confidence: High
ST_CODE: DITION
Full Document Transcript & Forensic Extraction
System Metadata
Source ID
DOC-ARXIV_EX
Process Date
Public archive record
Integrity Hash
SHA256-ARXIVEXPEDIT...
Indexer Status
COMPLETE
Initializing_Secure_Viewer...
Full Transcript
Transcript
Page 1 of 86
Page 1
CHEMICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SPHERULES RECOVERED FROM THE PACIFIC
OCEAN SITE OF THE CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) BOLIDE.
A. Loeb1,2, S.B. Jacobsen2,3, R. Tagle2, T. Adamson2, S. Bergstrom2, J. Cherston 1,2, R. Cloete1,2, S.
Cohen2,7, L. Domine1,2, H. Fu2,3, C. Hoskinson2, E. Hyung2,3, M. Kelly2, E. Lard2, F. Laukien2,6, J. Lem2,5,
R. McCallum2, R. Millsap2, C. Parendo2,3, C. Peddeti2,4, J. Pugh2, S. Samuha2,7, D.D. Sasselov1,2, M.
Schlereth2, J. Siler2, A. Siraj1,2, P.M. Smith2, J. Taylor2, R. Weed2,4, A. Wright2, J. Wynn2.
1Dept. of Astronomy, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, 02138, MA ([email protected]).
2Interstellar Expedition of the Galileo Project, Cambridge, 02138, MA.
3Dept. of Earth and Planet. Sci., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, 02138, MA.
4Dept. of Nuclear Eng., Univ. of California Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720, CA.
5Dept. of Mining Eng., PNG Univ. of Technology, Lae, 411, Papua New Guinea.
6Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, 02138, MA.
7Dept. of Materials Eng., NRCN, P.O. Box 9001, Beer-Sheva, 84190, Israel.
Abstract: We have conducted an extensive towed-magnetic-sled survey during the period of June 14-28,
2023, over the seafloor about 85 km north of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, centered around the
calculated path of the bolide CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1). We found about 850 spherules of diameter 0.1-
1.3 millimeters in our samples. The samples were analyzed by micro-XRF, Electron Probe Microanalyzer
and ICP Mass spectrometry. Here we report major and trace element compositions of the samples and
classify spherules based on that analysis. We identified 78% of the spherules as primitive, in that their
compositions have not been affected by planetary differentiation. We divided these into four groups
corresponding to previously described cosmic spherule types. The remaining 22% appear to all reflect
planetary igneous differentiation and are all different from previously described spherules. We call them
D-type spherules. A portion of the D-spherules show an excess of Be, La and U, by up to three orders of
magnitude relative to the solar system standard of CI chondrites. Detailed mass spectroscopy of 12 of these
“BeLaU”-type spherules, the population of which may constitute up to ~10% of our entire collected sample,
suggests that they are derived from material formed by planetary igneous fractionation. Their chemical
composition is unlike any known solar system material. We compare these compositions to known
differentiated bodies in the solar system and find them similar to evolved planetary materials - with lunar
KREEP the closest in terms of its trace element enrichment pattern, but unusual in terms of their elevated
CI-normalized incompatible elements. The “BeLaU”-type spherules reflect a highly differentiated,
extremely evolved composition of an unknown source.
1
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this document? ▾
CHEMICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SPHERULES RECOVERED FROM THE PACIFIC
OCEAN SITE OF THE CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) BOLIDE.
A. Loeb1,2, S.B. Jacobsen2,3, R. Tagle2, T. Adamson2, S. Bergstrom2, J. Cherston 1,2, R. Cloete1,2, S.
Cohen2,7, L. Domine1,2, H. Fu2,3, C. Hoskinson2, E. Hyung2,3, M. Kelly2, E. Lard2, F...