JAKARTA – Astronomers announced the discovery of the first ever ‘boomerang meteorite’ – a rock that came from Earth, was thrown into space, and then returned.
The meteorite, NWA 13188, was discovered in the Sahara Desert, and scientists at the University of Aix-Marseille in France conducted a new analysis, which found that the meteorite bears characteristics of our planet.
These objects have compositions found in Earth’s crust and volcanic rock, but also elements that arise only when exposed to energetic cosmic radiation in outer space. Researchers believe the rock was propelled into space by an asteroid impact about 10,000 years ago.
Meteorite hunters discovered the rock in 2018 in Morocco, which led scientists to name it Northwest Africa (NWA).
Analysis led by Jérôme Gattacceca determined that the rock has the ‘overall basalt andesitic rock composition’ found in volcanic rocks around the world.
The rock is also dominated by plagioclase, an aluminum-containing mineral, and pyrocene, a dark rock-forming mineral, which scientists say has led to the debate that the ‘space rock’ is not really a meteorite.
However, some elements have changed to lighter forms, which is only possible if the stone interacts with cosmic radiation in outer space.
One clue that the rock returned to Earth from outer space is that the measured isotope concentrations of these altered elements, known as isotopes, are too high to be explained by processes occurring on Earth.
Gattacceca and his team found traces of detectable isotopes such as beryllium-3, helium-10, and neon-21 in NWA 13188, as reported by Space.com.
The researchers also identified layers of fusion crust in the rock, which were formed when meteorites crossed Earth’s atmosphere and fell to the ground.
“Therefore, we consider NWA 13188 to be a meteorite, which was launched from Earth and then re-accreted onto its surface,” Gattacceca said in a statement, quoted MailOnline.
“This scenario fits the current definition of a meteorite: ‘Material launched from a celestial body that reaches an independent orbit around the Sun or another celestial body, and is eventually re-accreted by the original body, must be considered a meteorite. Of course, the difficulty would be in proving that this has happened, but an earth rock that is exposed to cosmic radiation and has a good fusion crust should be considered a possible earth meteorite.”
Tags: meteor meteorite outer space
2023-08-01 06:05:00
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