According to a recent study, asteroid 16 Psyche, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter, could be made entirely of metal and is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion — more than the entire economy of Earth.
- New images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope suggests that the 16 Psyche surface may mostly comprise iron and nickel, similar to the Earth’s core.
- It is one of the most massive objects in the asteroid belt in our solar system, and with a diameter of about 140 miles.
- It is located around 370 million kilometres away from Earth.
- Scientists believe that Psyche could be the metallic core of an early planet that lost its mantle and crust due to collisions that might have occurred early in the formation of the solar system.
- NASA has planned to launch an unmanned spacecraft to Psyche in 2022, which will study it up close and better determine its composition.
(Source: CNN)
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