Abadikini.com, JAKARTA – The largest piece of Martian meteorite that has ever fallen to Earth is on display for the first time at the Maine Minerals and Gems Museum in Bethel, United States, Wednesday (1/9) last week.
The piece of stone, named Taoudenni 002, weighs 14.5 kilograms and measures 25 centimeters at its widest point. The lump of rock from Mars is thought to have reached Earth as a result of the impact of a large asteroid or comet.
“Mars rocks can fall to Earth as meteorites,” said Carl Agee, director of the Meteorite Institute at the University of New Mexico, as quoted from Live Science, Monday (6/9/2021).
“They were ejected from Mars by a high-impact and energetic event,” he added.
After the impact of the powerful impact ejected the rock from Mars, they drift through space and eventually end up in orbit across Earth and around the Sun.
The rock from the red planet, Agee said, is by far the largest intact, uncut Martian meteorite on Earth.
According to Agee, there are about 300 pieces of Mars rock on Earth, with a total of about 227 kilograms. However, collectors often break them down to sell them separately, so the number of known Mars meteorites on Earth is between 100 and 150 pieces.
A local meteor hunter found Taoudenni 002 near a salt mine in Mali, before the world’s leading meteorite trader Darryl Pitt bought it for Maine’s Museum of Minerals and Gems in April 2021.
After acquiring the meteorite in Mali, Pitt sent a small sample of the rock to Agee to confirm its origin.
Martian meteorites have certain chemical signatures, and the minerals and elements at Taoudenni 002 according to Agee closely match known Martian minerals.
“This is shergottite, which is the main type of Martian meteorite. It contains the minerals olivine, pyroxene and feldspar that are transformed by shock formed from the Mars impact that ejected them,” said Agee.
Reporting from SpectrumNews, Agee said the rock, igneous rock, may have first formed from a volcano on Mars, and may have been on the planet’s surface for several million years.
Furthermore, Agee explained that the composition of the meteorite also hints at how the rock was made. Most likely formed in a volcanic episode on Mars more than 100 million years ago. Even larger Martian rocks may be hidden on Earth. Potentially still buried under sand dunes in the Sahara or deep in the Antarctic ice, or even on the ocean floor.
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