Meteorite with an extraterrestrial organic charge

On the night of January 16, 2018, a fireball flared over the American Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario, a meteor crossing the sky to land on a frozen lake in Michigan. Scientists and meteorite hunters were able to quickly locate its fragments to protect them before they even fell into the water. The research, published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, showed that the cosmic pebble brought organic matter out of this Earth.

This is a particular meteorite that fell on a frozen lake and was quickly preserved in its pristine state. We were able to study its composition intact and found out about the presence of a rich set of extraterrestrial, organic compounds – says the first author of the work, Professor Philipp Heck from the University of Chicago and the Field Museum. These types of organic compounds were most likely brought by meteorites to the young Earth and could have contributed to the creation of life here.

In order for a space shard to become a meteorite, it must go through several phases. It is formed as a rock fragment after some cosmic asteroid collision, called a meteoroid. When a meteoroid hits the atmosphere of our planet, it becomes a meteor visible as a fireball or shooting star. After falling to Earth, we are already talking about the meteorite. The time that has elapsed since their fall is of key importance for the study of meteorites. In the case of the Michigan meteor, this time was very short. The meteorological radar indications allowed to estimate the area of ​​the fall of its fragments, one of them was found on the surface of a frozen lake less than two days later.

The space pebble was found by meteorite hunter Robert Ward on the surface of Strawberry Lake near Hamburg, Michigan. Ward, along with Terry Boudreaux, donated it to scientists at the Field Museum. Philipp Heck did the research with Jennika Greer. When the meteorite hit our museum, I spent the whole weekend researching, I was so excited, I wanted to immediately find out what it was and what it contained – says Greer. Each meteorite gives you hope to discover something completely new and completely unexpected.

The meteor turned out to be H4 class chondrite, relatively rare, only 4 percent. the meteorites that are currently falling belong to this group. What makes it special, however, is the speed with which it was found, secured and analyzed. This meteorite contains a number of organic compounds that we do not expect in this group – adds Greer. The excitement of finding it was so great that everyone wanted to test it with their own technique. This brought a lot of data.

Studies of meteorites often show the existence of organic substances and even life, only that it is life from Earth that settled on them after the fall. This time the meteorite fell on the ice and was quickly found, so it can be said to be clean in that respect adds Heck. Thanks to this, it was possible to thoroughly examine it and notice the organic compounds it brought from space.

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