New studies of samples from asteroid Bennu reveal it contains stardust older than the solar system, along with organic materials and ices from interstellar space.

Collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and returned to Earth in 2023, the samples show Bennu’s parent body likely formed beyond Jupiter and Saturn before being shattered in a violent collision and reassembled multiple times, Live Science has reported.

Scientists say the findings offer rare insight into cosmic conditions before the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago.