Asteroid 16 Psyche, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter, could be made entirely of metal, claims a recent study.
It is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion — more than the entire economy of Earth.
New images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope offer a closer view of the asteroid 16 Psyche, whose surface may mostly comprise iron and nickel, similar to the Earth’s core.
Scientists believe that the asteroid may be the leftover core of an earlier planet that lost its crust and mantle after multiple collisions during the creation of our solar system.
The exact composition and origins of the asteroid will be uncovered in 2022, when NASA sends an unmanned spacecraft to study it up close.
It is located around 370 million km away from Earth.
It is one of the most massive objects in the asteroid belt in our solar system.
The somewhat potato-shaped asteroid has a diameter of around 140 miles; it was first discovered on March 17, 1853, by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis and was named after the ancient Greek goddess of the soul, Psyche.
