According to comprehensive foreign media reports, Antarctica is a hunting ground for scientific research on meteorites because they are relatively unpolluted. Among the five meteorites discovered this time, one is the largest meteorite ever found in the Antarctic region. This beast-like space rock is about the size of a cantaloupe and weighs a whopping 17 pounds! The researchers said, “This cannonball-sized object should have been a very large object before it rushed through the Earth’s atmosphere. But when it comes to meteorites, size does not necessarily matter. Even tiny micrometeorites will Has incredible scientific value.”
These objects came from the asteroid belt and probably hit Earth 10,000 years ago, crashing into the blue ice of Antarctica. The asteroid belt is a loose collection of objects ranging in size from pebbles to the dwarf planet Ceres, containing the “leftover” material from the formation of the solar system. Of the 45,000 meteorites found so far on the empty Antarctic continent, this latest discovery is included in the 100 heaviest objects. The study of these meteorites will help scientists gain a deeper understanding of how the Earth and other planets were formed, as well as a better understanding of the solar system and human beings themselves.
While searching for potential asteroid material in Antarctica is difficult and often frustrating work, scientists have managed to find five meteorites by using new techniques involving satellite data and artificial intelligence to narrow the search. Although the main sample collected was sent to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels for analysis, each scientist was allowed to keep some potential meteorite dust samples. The samples were collected from around the fallen space rock for their own research, and the scientists all managed to take home precious mementos.
Maria Valdes, a member of the research team and a meteorite expert at the Field Museum in Chicago, concluded: “Finding a large meteorite like this is rare and really exciting. Studying meteorites can help us better understanding our place in the universe. The larger the sample size of meteorites we have, the better we can understand our solar system, and the better we can understand ourselves.”
