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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteNatural quasicrystals have been found in the Khatyrka meteorite, and the leading explanation is that an ancient collision in the early Solar System produced the extreme heat and pressure needed to form them. A study proposed asteroid 89 Julia as a possible parent body, but that identification is unconfirmed. The cited studies do not show that a quasicrystal-bearing asteroid is currently headed for Earth.
What are quasicrystals, and where were they found?
Ordinary crystals repeat the same atomic pattern periodically. Quasicrystals are ordered too, but their atomic arrangements are quasiperiodic and can have symmetries—such as fivefold symmetry—that ordinary periodic crystals cannot have.
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The natural examples at issue were found in Khatyrka, a CV3 carbonaceous chondrite discovered in Russia. The Smithsonian describes icosahedrite, composition Al63Cu24Fe13, as the first studied natural quasicrystal associated with meteoritic material: Smithsonian Institution’s research record.
How could an asteroid collision make them?
Minerals record a violent shock
Petrological evidence in Khatyrka points to impact shock in the early Solar System. The meteorite is heterogeneous: some portions reached at least 5 GPa of pressure and 1,200 °C. Researchers propose that the shock melted aluminium- and copper-bearing minerals, and that rapid solidification then formed icosahedrite and other metal phases. Those figures describe conditions in parts of the meteorite, not the whole object uniformly.
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The proposed mechanism is an interpretation of the mineral assemblage and shock evidence; scientists did not directly observe the ancient collision. See the 2014 Nature Communications study.
Shock experiments test whether the mechanism is feasible
In plate-impact experiments, researchers shocked starting materials similar to the unusual intermetallic alloys in Khatyrka and recovered micron-scale quasicrystalline material. The result supports the physical plausibility of impact synthesis, but it does not recreate the entire natural event. The study’s authors wrote that successful shock synthesis “demonstrates a mechanism that is feasible in space but not in any natural setting on Earth.” This is the authors’ statement in their paper, not a quotation from a named researcher. See the 2016 PNAS study.
Which quasicrystal phases have been reported?
Khatyrka does not contain just one quasicrystal. Reported phases differ in chemical composition and symmetry:
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| Phase | Composition | Symmetry and occurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Icosahedrite | Al63Cu24Fe13 | Icosahedral; reported naturally in Khatyrka and described by the Smithsonian as the first studied natural quasicrystal. Smithsonian record. |
| Decagonite | Al71Ni24Fe5 | Decagonal; reported naturally in Khatyrka. Smithsonian record. |
| Additional icosahedral phase | Al62.0(8)Cu31.2(8)Fe6.8(4) | Icosahedral; reported as another natural phase. Scientific Reports study. |
The compositions and symmetry labels distinguish these phases; they should not be treated as interchangeable names for the same mineral.
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What is known about Khatyrka’s cosmic history?
A 2018 study estimated Khatyrka’s cosmic-ray exposure age at about 2–4 million years, assuming the meteoroid was less than 3 metres in diameter. A larger meteoroid could imply a greater estimate. The study also inferred that a relatively recent shock event occurred less than 600 million years ago; that is an upper bound for the inferred shock, not the age of the Solar System or a direct date for every quasicrystal.
The same study proposed the large K-type asteroid 89 Julia as a possible parent body, citing a matching reflectance spectrum, impact history and proximity to orbital resonances. This is a candidate-parent hypothesis, not a confirmed identification. See Meier et al. in Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2018).
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Is a quasicrystal-bearing asteroid on course to hit Earth?
No such threat is established by these studies. They discuss a meteorite’s ancient shock history, its journey through space and a possible parent body; they do not provide a current orbit for an incoming object or an impact probability. The collision in the headline belongs to the history proposed for Khatyrka, not a prediction of an imminent collision with Earth.
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