[ad_1]
A mineral never seen in nature was discovered during the scan of a meteorite found along a road in Australia.
The Wedderburn meteorite is a piece of 210 g space rock that was discovered near an isolated mining town of Victoria in 1951.
Researchers at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) swept the rock and discovered a mineral – the Edscottite – that has never been seen in the wild.
"Scientists have discovered a new mineral, never seen before in the wild, housed in a meteorite found near Wedderburn, in central Victoria.
Edscottite! https://t.co/j8tt9xqRDn
– Belinda Barnet (@manjusrii) August 31, 2019
The researchers now believe that the space stone comes from the core of another planet, destroyed in an old collision.
A team from Caltech swept a small part of the meteorite in search of rare minerals in 2018 and discovered a mineral found in iron foundries, but never in the wild.
Dr. Stuart Mills, Chief Curator of Life Sciences at Museums Victoria, said, "This meteorite was rich in carbon.
Read more
Crater of the largest meteorite of the United Kingdom found in Scotland
Apple's profits increase, but iPhone sales disappoint
The launch of the Apple iPhone "could devalue the old handsets by 30%"
"As it cooled slowly, iron and carbon came together to form this mineral."
The discovery is quite unique, said Dr. Mills at The Age.
Dr. Mills said, "We have discovered between 500,000 and 600,000 minerals in the lab, but fewer than 6,000 of these have done it themselves."
The mineral is named after cosmochemist Edward Scott of the University of Hawaii.
[ad_2]
Source link