Present 500 million years after the Big Bang, this supermassive black hole may help answer ongoing questions about our fledgling universe.

New research published in Nature Communications identifies an iron sulfate on Mars that may represent a brand-new mineral. Sulfur is common on Mars and combines with other elements to form minerals, especially sulfates. While most sulfates are highly soluble and readily dissolve on Earth during rainfall, on the dry surface of Mars these minerals can survive for billions of years and preserve important clues on the planet’s early history. Each mineral has a unique crystal structure and properties, including the common minerals gypsum and hematite. Scientists rely on data collected by Mars orbiters to identify minerals on the surface and obtain information about former martian environments that would have enabled the formation of these minerals. For nearly 20 years, researchers have been puzzled by unusual, layered iron sulfates with a unique spectral signature. Now, a study led by Dr. Janice Bishop, senior research scientist at the SETI Institute and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, has identified and characterized an uncommon ferric hydroxysulfate phase by combining laboratory experiments with Mars orbital observations. The discovery adds new insight into how heat, water, and chemical reactions shape the martian surface.

“We investigated two sulfate-bearing sites near the vast Valles Marineris canyon system that included mysterious spectral bands seen from orbital data, as well as layered sulfates and intriguing geology,” said Bishop.