Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2022 06:04 PM
Al-Madina News: The Jordanian astronomer, Imad Mujahid, made a scientific discovery by finding a huge and very rare meteorite that fell thousands of years ago.
Mujahid said, in a press statement today, Sunday, to the Jordan News Agency (Petra), that the meteorite was found, taking many pictures, and signs of a cavity appeared on the surface and burning resulting from its contact with the Earth’s gas envelope while entering the atmosphere at a speed of about 40 kilometers per second. The weight is large in relation to its size due to the presence of iron in a high percentage, which is not available in the earthly rocks, in addition to a small crater about 40 centimeters deep.
He pointed out that as a result of these signs, a sample of 10 grams of the stone was sent to a European laboratory specializing in meteorites in the Canary Islands, and a few days later, the director of the laboratory called Professor Jose Garcia and assured him that it was an iron meteorite.
He added that after Professor Garcia conducted more additional analyzes, he revealed that it is classified as an iron meteorite, and it will be registered globally in his name, and after about two months, the meteorite will bear the name of Jordanian astronomer Imad Mujahid in the international classification of meteorites.
The astronomer Mujahid extended his great thanks to the Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court, Youssef Al-Issawi, for his support, by providing administrative devices and facilities with state institutions that helped achieve this discovery. He also thanked the General Customs Department, which provided important customs and administrative facilities.
In turn, Professor of Mineralogy and meteorite expert at the Hashemite University, Professor Ahmed Al-Malabeh, said in an interview with Petra that the meteorite contained iron minerals, the most important of which are kamazite, titanite and cohonite, and that it is formed only at a higher temperature than any degree on Earth, pointing to The presence of kamazite, which is an alloy of iron, nickel and some cobalt, is sufficient evidence that the discoverer is a cosmic meteorite, and that the combination of these minerals confirms the rarity of this discovery.
Al-Ma’aba stressed the need to pay attention to the discovery and market it in the media, calling for the establishment of a national center for meteorites to study, name and number them according to the internationally established pattern.
It is noteworthy that meteorites are rocks from the remnants of the solar system during their formation that did not coalesce with the planets and remained floating in space, and the iron meteorite that Mujahid found separated from one of these planets and fell to the ground a block of iron mixed with nickel, which is the most important metal that distinguishes meteorites from earthly rocks.
Astronomers and space agencies, specifically the US Space Agency (NASA), are interested in meteorites, as they contain the raw material from which the solar system originated, and studying them gives a better perception of the group, and the European laboratory has decided to allocate researchers to study the unique Jordanian meteorite.
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Jordanian astronomer, Imad Mujahid