We know Arrested development hasn’t been around for a while, but we think this would be the perfect time for a “that was a freebie” from Lucille. Because a resident of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire in England has found a super rare type of meteorite in their driveway, which may give us insight into the early solar system. As well as offering the same kind of materials that would otherwise require a billion dollar space mission to retrieve.
The Smithsonian Magazine reported on the recently discovered meteorite, which the Winchcombe resident recovered from a recent fireball. The meteor that created the fire streak in the sky flew over the UK on Feb. 28. Multiple cameras recorded the event, allowing videos to be taken like the one directly below it.
Scientists say the meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite. This type of meteorite is a leftover rock from the early solar system and is perhaps the rarest type; consisting of up to 5% carbon in various forms, including organic matter. As well as “exotic” diamond and graphite grains from before the birth of the sun.
“This is really exciting,” said Professor Sara Russel, a researcher at the museum, in a press release. “There are about 65,000 known meteorites around the world, and of those only 51 are carbonaceous chondrites that have fallen like this.”
Natural history museum
The 300 gram meteorite likely contains soft clay minerals, suggesting the presence of frozen water ice from the past. The meteorite may even contain amino acids, which are the “building blocks” of life.
“Meteorites like these are remnants of the early solar system, which means they can tell us what the planets are made of,” Russel added in the press release. “But we also think these types of meteorites may have brought water to Earth and supplied the planet with its oceans.”
Natural history museum
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the meteorite, however, is how difficult it would otherwise have been to retrieve anything materially similar from space. For example, the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission recently sent a spacecraft to an asteroid to recover the same type of meteorite. And that mission cost nearly $ 1.2 billion dollars. Which means this finding wasn’t just a freebie: it was one astronomical freebie.
Feature Image: Natural History Museum
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