Meteorite found in the UK, possibly old as solar system, one of 40 whose origin location's known

[bigtree]

Asteroid Day ☄ @AsteroidDayn 6m
A piece of #asteroid seen recently falling over the UK is classified as one of the rarest. Learn more about this special space rock in this article: https://bit.ly/3xfKkw9


____A few months ago a meteorite was seen falling over the town of Winchcombe in the United Kingdom. Multiple videos of the meteor burning in the atmosphere were recorded thanks to the cameras of the UK Fireball Network and this led to finding actual fragments of the space rock. And it turns out, as the immediate observations suggested, that this was a very special find.

Preliminary research suggests that it is as old as the solar system, so it might give us some important clues as to what our planet was like 4.5 billion years ago. It also appears to contain exciting molecules that might inform how the building blocks for life got onto our planet.

Carbonaceous chondrites are very rare and the parent bodies of these cosmic rocks are asteroids similar to Ryugu and Bennu, which were recently visited, respectively by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA)’s Hayabusa-2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx. Both spacecraft collected samples from the asteroids to understand the origin of the solar system better. The ongoing work on the Winchcombe rocks would be a phenomenal addition to this investigation.

Dr. Luke Daly from the University of Glasgow and co-lead of the UK Fireball Network, added. "For a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite to fall in the UK, and for it to be recovered so quickly and have a known orbit, is a really special event and a fantastic opportunity for the UK planetary science community."

If this object wasn’t special enough, it is one of only 40 meteorites whose location of origin in the asteroid belt is known. A truly exceptional find.

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMkbJ01pMFv/

[Celerity]

1. K & R for visibility

[The Magistrate]

2. That Is Really Neat, Sir

Thank you for sharing it.

[NBachers]

3. The UK Fireball Network

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. It's a diverse nationwide group of dancers known for their high energy routines & synchronization

or maybe not.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. What are the space aliens asking in return for this meteorite?

Can we send them Elon Musk?

[Lucinda]

6. ❤️ ✿❧🌿❧✿ ❤️