a meteor It recently crashed in England. According to experts, it contains a mixture of extremely rare minerals. Elements that could provide new data on the formation of the solar system.
A space rock fell to Earth on February 28th. Seconds earlier, it flew over southwest England in a dazzling fireball, Transfer Living Sciences. Scientists speculated that several meteorite fragments may have reached Earth. The Natural History Museum in London said in a statement that one of these fragments ended up in the corridor of a house in Winkcomb (Gloucestershire).
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The dwelling inhabitants noticed the impact of an object falling from the sky near their garden. It turned out that this part was left by the largest part.
The importance of quickly collecting meteor fragments
Then someone picked up the piece before alerting the UK’s meteor monitoring network. Then the latter contacted the London Museum. ” For someone who has no idea what is going on around him, the residents did an amazing job ”Ashley King, researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. ” The piece wrapped up very quickly on Monday morning, perhaps less than 12 hours after the collision. Then he continued to find other fragments in his garden over the following days. “The scientist said.
Exposure to the atmosphere and weather conditions, including rain or snow, can contaminate meteor fragments. Hence the need to quickly restore them. In total, the recovered pieces weigh approximately 300g. These are the first fragments of space rock collected in the UK since 1991.
Remnants of the early solar system
Sarah Russell also works at the Natural History Museum in London. It specializes in carbonate chondrite rocks. According to her, the meteor fragments collected at Winchcombe are a carbon chondrite and come from an ancient asteroid that formed in the early days of the Solar System. “Meteorites like these are remnants of the early Solar System, which means they can tell us what planets were. We also think that these celestial bodies may have brought water to Earth, providing the planet with its oceans. I explained.
