Antarctica is a wonderland for meteorite hunters. Dark rocks stand out in opposition to the pale, snowy panorama and the dry local weather helps to protect them. A staff of researchers went trying to find meteorites in Antarctica and found a uncommon prize: a jumbo 16.7-pound (7.6 kilogram) meteorite.
The meteorite was certainly one of 5 collected by the researchers, who launched into the journey in late December. “Size doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to meteorites, and even tiny micrometeorites can be incredibly scientifically valuable, but of course, finding a big meteorite like this one is rare, and really exciting,” analysis scientist Maria Valdes mentioned in an announcement from the Field Museum on Wednesday.
Valdes estimates round 45,000 meteorites have been present in Antarctica during the last century, however solely about 100 of them have been the scale of the 17-pounder or bigger.
The staff’s enthusiasm for the weird discover might be seen in {a photograph} the place the researchers posed with the rock.
The analysis staff tried out a brand new method utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery to identify meteorite websites. “Going on an adventure exploring unknown areas is exciting, but we also had to deal with the fact that the reality on the ground is much more difficult than the beauty of satellite images,” mentioned Université Libre de Bruxelles glaciology scholar Vinciane Debaille.
While the December timing put the staff in Antarctica in the course of the area’s summertime, the expedition nonetheless braved chilly temperatures and prolonged snowmobile rides and treks.
The meteorites are destined for examine on the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Each one is a window into the cosmos. “The bigger a sample size we have of meteorites,” Valdes mentioned, “the better we can understand our solar system, and the better we can understand ourselves.”
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