Scientists said they discovered a space rock years ago in Antarctica – an extremely rare meteorite that contains some of the oldest material in the solar system.
“When we saw him in the middle of the blue ice, we were all so excited,” said Maria Valdez, a researcher at the Chicago Fields Museum. she told the Chicago Tribune.
17 lbs meteorDescribed as “the size of a pumpkin,” it was discovered by an international team on January 5 at the end of an 11-day voyage.
This unusual rock, containing material dating back billions of years, is one of the largest meteorites ever found on the continent, and may have originated in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The Independent reported.
“To put meteorite size in perspective, of the 45,000 meteorites recovered from Antarctica in the past century, only 100 were this size or larger,” said the Chicago Field Museum, which was part of the expedition.
Researchers on snowmobiles spent the better part of two weeks combing ice fields for meteorites.
At first, they were reluctant to celebrate, Valdez said, “because if we find a meteor, we know it’s really the mother node. The last day, the last hour.
When members discovered it was “regarding the size of a bowling ball but twice as heavy as a bowling ball,” the team was convinced it had indeed found a rare space rock.
The rock contained what Valdez described as an “fusional crust” — a glassy outer layer that melted slightly as it entered the atmosphere. It also fades away as a sign of your presence on earth through the ages.
The meteorite has been sent to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Belgium for chemical analysis.
“All meteorites have something to say regarding the evolution of the Earth,” Valdez said. “Size does matter when it comes to meteorites, and even small meteorites can be incredibly valuable scientifically.”
The Independent noted that most of the 45,000 meteorites found in Antarctica in the past century weigh a few grams.
This discovery came several months following NASA’s success Destroyed an asteroid 530 feet wide A test run to prepare for the possibility of a huge space rock the size of an asteroid 6.2 miles wide that scientists think might hurtle toward Earth destroyed dinosaurs a million years ago.