Rare 4.6 Billion Year Old Meteorite Found in Horseshoe Trailjak

Suara.com – chunks meteorit Rare from the early solar system about 4.6 billion years old, found in a field in England.

The meteorite was discovered in Gloucestershire by Derek Robson, a resident of Loughborough, England, and director of astrochemistry at East Anglian Astrophysical Research Organization (EAARO).

According to Loughborough University, the space rock is in a horseshoe trail left in the field.

The meteorites are carbonaceous chondrites, a rare category that comprises only four to five percent of meteorites found on Earth.

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This rock originates from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and was formed early in the history of the solar system.

Interestingly, meteorites of this type often contain organic compounds or carbon carriers, including amino acids that form the basic building blocks of life.

This raises the question of whether these meteorites have any clue as to how living things first appeared in the solar system.

Unlike other space debris, this boulder cannot withstand the harsh impact and heat that occurred in the creation of the planets and moons of the solar system.

“The meteorite has been out there, past Mars, untouched, since before any planets were created,” said Shaun Fowler, a microscope expert at Loughborough University.

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That means, he adds, we have a rare opportunity to examine parts of our primordial past.

Reported from Space.com, Monday (26/7/2021), this rock has a small size, charcoal-colored, and brittle.

According to Fowler, the meteorite was made mostly of minerals such as olivine and phyllosilicates, as well as round grains called chondrules.

“But the composition of this meteorite is different from anything we have found on Earth. It may contain some previously unknown chemical structures,” Fowler added.

Experts at Loughborough University and EAARO used electron microscopy to study the surface of meteorites down to nanometers.

The team also studied rock chemistry using vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction.

If researchers can confirm the presence of amino acids in rock samples, the findings may reveal new information about how the early geochemistry of the solar system organized life.

For now, the research is still in its early stages.

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