Open questions on carbonaceous matter in meteorites

Every year several tons of extraterrestrial material reach Earth’s surface but only a fraction of it ends up in the hands of geoscientists. In their recently published comment, Oliver Christ and co-authors highlight the importance of studying extraterrestrial carbon found in such material, i.e., meteorites. Meteorites and carbon within them have been studied for more than a century and led to many insights of our solar system and planet Earth. However, there are still open questions that need to be answered. Such questions include not only the occurrence of extraterrestrial diamonds, but also the origin of terrestrial life.