Thought to be an ordinary stone, it turns out that this object is more expensive than gold

Melbourne – David Hole’s activities while carrying a metal detector in Maryborough Regional Park, near Melbourne made him discover a strange rock. He thought the stone was gold, because it had a reddish color with yellowish clay.

Enthusiastic, Hole then took the stone to his house. He tried to break the stone with various tools and even chemicals, but his efforts were unsuccessful. It wasn’t until years later that he learned the stone he was carrying was worth more than gold.

Still curious, Hole took the chunk to the Melbourne Museum to be identified. It turned out that the object was a rare meteorite.

“It has a chiseled, dimpled appearance,” Melbourne Museum geologist Dermot Henry told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2019.

“They form when they pass through the atmosphere, they melt on the outside, and the atmosphere forms them,” he continued.

After research, the meteorite found by Hole was then named the Maryborough meteorite. It weighs up to 17 kg. After using a diamond saw to cut it, researchers discovered its composition had a high percentage of iron.

After it was cut open, small droplets of crystallized metallic minerals were found inside. These tiny droplets are called chondrules.

“Meteorites provide the cheapest form of space exploration. They take us back in time, providing clues about the age, formation and chemistry of our Solar System (including Earth),” said Henry.

“Some meteorites provide a glimpse into the interior of our planet. In some meteorites, there is ‘stardust’ that is even older than our Solar System, which shows us how stars formed and evolved to create the elements of the periodic table. Other rare meteorites contains organic molecules such as amino acids; the building blocks of life,” he said. So quotes Science Alert.

This article was published on detikInet with the title This man kept a stone he thought was gold, but it turned out to be more expensive

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