A meteorite that survived atmospheric entry and smashed by the roof of a Georgia dwelling earlier this 12 months might have shaped earlier than Earth itself, based on a scientist from the College of Georgia who analyzed fragments of the wandering photo voltaic system object.
Residents of a number of southeastern U.S. states have been dazzled on Jul. 26 once they witnessed a uncommon daytime fireball — shiny sufficient to be registered by an orbiting satellite tv for pc — blazing Earthward.
The ancient asteroid shard at the heart of the event weathered the intense friction of atmospheric entry to punch a hole through the roof of a house in the city of McDonough, Georgia, shattering the floor a mere 14 feet (4 meters) from an unsuspecting resident.
How old is the McDonough Meteorite?
23-grams-worth of the fragmented meteorite — the name given to meteoroids that reach the ground intact — were later transported to the University of Georgia (UGA), where scientists set to work unravelling the secrets of its origins. “This particular meteor that entered the atmosphere has a long history before it made it to the ground of McDonough, and in order to totally understand that, we actually have to examine what the rock is and determine what group of asteroids it belongs to,” said UGA researcher Scott Harris.
The newly named McDonough Meteorite is regarded as a Low Metallic (L) extraordinary Chondrite — one of many most ancient forms of rock identified to exist within the photo voltaic system — that doubtless shaped some 4.56 billion years in the past, probably making it barely older than Earth.
“It belongs to a gaggle of asteroids in the principle asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that we now suppose we will tie to a breakup of a a lot bigger asteroid about 470 million years in the past,” mentioned Harris. That damaging occasion may have shunted the McDonough asteroid into an Earth-crossing orbit that will ultimately see it partially redecorate one Henry County dwelling.
Harris goals to publish a paper detailing the composition of the meteorite together with details about its atmospheric entry later this 12 months. Shards of the McDonough Meteorite are additionally because of be displayed on the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.
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