The meteorite that fell in the UK was the rarest and contained organic matter and amino acids – the ingredients for life

British scientists and meteorite specialists discovered parts of the rare meteorite on March 3, 2021, just days after it entered Earth’s atmosphere and flew across the sky, as Imperial College London announced today.

The fragments were recovered in such good condition and so quickly after the impact of the meteorite that they are comparable to rock samples returned from space missions, both in quality and quantity.

The discovery came as a result of widespread sightings – on February 28 – of a fireball that lit up the sky and was visible from all over the UK and Northern Europe.

Now astronomers and meteorite experts have found chunks of this space rock at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. It will likely become known as the Winchcombe meteorite.

The meteorite belongs to the carbonaceous chondrite.

There are about 65,000 fragments of known meteorites on Earth. Only 1206 falls were recorded, of which only 51 were carbonaceous chondrites.

It is known that such meteorites contain organic substances and amino acids, that is, the ingredients for life.

These are some of the reasons why scientists are so thrilled to have discovered this meteorite so soon after it fell.

They said they recovered the meteorite in such good condition, so quickly after it fell, that it is comparable to asteroid samples returned from space missions, both in quality and quantity.

They are also thrilled because this extremely rare type of meteorite has never been found in the UK before. It is the first meteorite discovered in the UK in 30 years.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x