carbonaceous meteorite tagged posts

The Winchcombe meteorite, a rare carbonaceous meteorite which crashed onto a driveway in Gloucestershire in 2021, has been found to contain extra-terrestrial water and organic compounds that reveal insights into the origin of Earth’s oceans.

A new study, published today by Science Advances, led by experts from the Natural History Museum and the University of Glasgow reports the orbital history and first laboratory analyses of the Winchcombe meteorite, which was recovered only hours after its spectacular fireball lit up the skies over the U.K. in February 2021.

Denis Vida, a Western physics and astronomy postdoctoral associate, was a key contributor to the study...

This close-up picture shows a ceramic-like refractory inclusion (pink inclusion) still embedded into the meteorite in which it was found. Refractory inclusions are the oldest-known rocks in the solar system (4.5 billion years old). Analysis of the uranium isotope ratios of such inclusions demonstrates that a long-lived isotope of the radioactive element curium was present in the solar system when this inclusion was formed. The inclusion measures 1.5 centimers (.59 inches) in length. Credit: Origins Lab, University of Chicago

Uni of Chicago scientists have discovered evidence in a meteorite that a rare element, curium, was present during the formation of the solar system...