Rare meteorite recovery a ‘dream come true’ for scientists

A lump of black rock dating back to the earliest days of the solar system has fallen into a residential driveway in the UK.

Late last month, a stone weighing about 10.6 ounces (300 grams) pinged on a driveway from Rob and Cathryn Wilcock, who live in the small town of Winchcombe, UK.

When I heard it fall, I got up and looked out the window to see what was there. But because it was dark I couldn’t see anything, ”Hannah, the couple’s daughter, told the BBC. It wasn’t until the next morning when we went out that we saw it in the driveway – sort of like a splash. And frankly, my original thought was, has someone been driving through the Cotswolds and throwing chunks of coal into people’s gardens? “

It is not a lump of coal. Rather, it is a meteorite. And not just any kind of meteorite – it’s a piece of carbonaceous chondrite that, estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, dates back to the formation of the solar system, according to a pronunciation from the University of Manchester.

“Nearly all meteorites come from asteroids, the surviving building blocks of the solar system that can tell us how planets like Earth formed,” said Ashley King, UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow in the Earth Sciences Department at the Natural History Museum, said in the statement. “Being one of the first to see and study a meteorite recovered almost immediately after a fall is a dream come true!”

The rare monster arrived in a glow of glory as the rock lit up the sky over the UK and Northern Europe on Feb. 2. 28, 2021. The fireball, which entered the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of 14 kilometers per second was noticed by thousands of witnesses, many of whom joined the spectacle UK Meteor Observation Network

Thanks to extensive camera images taken from different angles of the event, scientists were able to mimic landing site triangles and also the flight path through the solar system, according to the University of Manchester Declaration. Other remains of the shattered asteroid are believed to have fallen into it the region known as the Cotswold, and a search for these valuable pieces continues.

In addition to the chapter, there are other smaller fragments of the meteorite’s impact the driveway. Despite being a dusty, shattered mess, the pieces are are in excellent condition, and they have been compared to pristine monsters returned from space missions.

“I was in shock when I saw it and immediately knew it was a rare meteorite and a totally unique event,” said Richard Greenwood, a research fellow at the Open University, in the statement. “It’s emotional to be the first to confirm to the people in front of you that the thump they heard in their driveway at night is in fact real.”

Carbonaceous chondrites are formed from a combination of minerals and organic compounds, such as amino acids. By studying such ancient objects, scientists can hark back to the earliest days of the solar system, better understanding the origins of planets and water and how the basic building blocks of life reached Earth.

“We are absolutely thrilled that something has happened that is going to be so valuable to science, to the human understanding of the world and the solar system, and that we can play a small part in it,” Rob Wilcock told the BBC.

The meteorite will be moved to the Natural History Museum, allowing for a formal investigation of the object.

Of the tens of thousands of known meteorites on Earth, only 51 are carbonaceous chondrites. The February 28 meteorite is the first carbonaceous chondrite to be found in the UK, and the first meteorite sample collected in the province since 1991.