Rare meteorite recovery: a ‘dream come true’ for scientists

A piece of black rock from the early days of the solar system has fallen on a residential driveway in the UK.

Late last month, a boulder weighing about 10.6 ounces (300 grams) rang on a driveway owned by Rob and Cathryn Wilcock, who live in the small town of Winchcombe, UNITED KINGDOM.

“When I heard him fall, I got up and looked out the window to see what was there. But since it was dark, I couldn’t see anything. Hannah, the couple’s daughter, Told the BBC. “It wasn’t until the next morning, when we got out, that we saw it on the record – kind of like a splash. And in all fairness my initial thought was, has anyone been driving around the Cotswolds throwing lumps of coal into people’s backyards?

A lump of coal is not. It’s more of a meteorite. And not just any type of meteorite – it’s a piece of carbonaceous chondrite that, about 4.5 billion years ago, dates back to the formation of the solar system, according to one. declaration from the University of Manchester.

“Almost all meteorites come to us from asteroids, the remaining building blocks of the solar system that can tell us how planets like Earth were formed,” Ashley King, UK research and innovation researcher Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Science Earth at the Natural History Museum, says in the statement. “The opportunity to be one of the first people to see and study a meteorite that was recovered almost immediately after it fell is a dream come true!”

The rare sample arrived in a burst of glory, as the rock lit the skies over the UK and northern Europe on February 2. 28, 2021. The fireball, which entered Earth’s atmosphere at speeds up to 8.7 miles per second (14 kilometers per second), was spotted by thousands of witnesses, many of whom reported the show to the UK Meteor Observation Network.

Numerous camera images taken of the event from different angles allowed scientists to triangulate a landing point and also recreate its flight path through the solar system, according to the University of Manchester Declaration. It is believed that other remains of the shattered asteroid fell into either the region known as the Cotswold, and the search for these precious pieces continues.

In addition to the main room, there are other smaller fragments of the striking meteorite The alley. Despite being a dusty and broken mess, the pieces are in excellent condition, and they are compared to intact samples returned from space missions.

“I was in shock when I saw it and immediately knew it was a rare meteorite and a totally unique event,” Open University researcher Richard Greenwood said in the statement. “It’s touching to be the first to confirm to the people standing in front of you that the thudding noise they heard in their driveway at night is actually the real thing.

Carbonaceous chondrites are formed from a combination of minerals and organic compounds, such as amino acids. By studying these ancient objects, scientists can trace the early days of the solar system, allowing them to better understand the origin of planets and water, and how the basic building blocks of life reached Earth.

“We are absolutely delighted that something that is going to be so valuable to science, to human understanding of the world and the solar system has happened, and that we can play a small role in it,” Rob Wilcock told the BBC.

The meteorite will be moved to the Natural History Museum, allowing a formal investigation of the object.

Of the tens of thousands of known meteorites on Earth, only 51 are carbonaceous chondrites. The February 28 meteorite is the first carbonaceous chondrite found in the UK, and the first meteorite sample recovered from the county since 1991.