It’s not easy trying to figure out the origin and early evolution of the Solar System using just a bunch of smashed up space rocks. A bit like trying to study an ancient civilization when all you have are a few bits of broken pottery and a rusty broach. Yes, making sense of the meteorite…
In a recent post we talked about ordinary chondrites. Why “ordinary”? Well that’s because we have so many of them, nearly 46,000 individuals according to the Meteoritical Bulletin database, or 87% of all officially classified meteorites. No wonder some people think they are a dull. But familiarity can and does breed contempt. They are important samples…
On September 21st 2013 at about 3pm local time a 1.5 kg stone fell less than one metre away from where Mr Adeildo Silva was standing in the village of Borracha, near Vicência, Brazil. It was a lucky escape! The stone turned out to be an ordinary chondrite, type LL3.2. Should we be interested? Well…
As Space mysteries go things don’t get any bigger than Tunguska! In 1908 something exploded over a remote region of Siberia devastating over 2,000 km2 of forest. Unfortunately, an organised scientific expedition didn’t visit the area until 1927 and were unable to locate any material from the object. We will probably never know for sure…
Meteorites: The Blog from the Final Frontier 