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A 12-million-year-old meteorite that fell to Earth in January 2018 is covered in more than 2,600 organic compounds, according to new research. These meteorites give us essential details about the appearance of life on Earth, say the researchers cited by CNN.
On the night of January 16, 2018, a fireball streaked across the sky over the Midwest and Ontario. Weather data has helped scientists quickly track where meteorite pieces fell on Earth so they can collect them before space samples become too contaminated by Earth.
“The weather radar is set up to detect hail and rain. These meteorite pieces were in that size range, and therefore the weather radar helped show the position and speed of the meteorite. So we were able to find it very quickly.” said the study’s lead author, Philipp Heck, curator of the Field Museum in Chicago and associate professor at the University of Chicago.
Elements on Earth, including liquid water, can change the chemical structure of a meteorite before it is collected.
But the Hamburg meteorite, collected less than two days after it fell to Earth, is an excellent example of a virtually unaltered meteorite.
Meteorite hunter Robert Ward found the first piece on the frozen surface of Strawberry Lake near Hamburg, Michigan. Ward and private collector Terry Boudreaux donated the meteorite to the Field Museum for study.
“This meteorite is special because it fell on a frozen lake and recovered quickly. It was very clean. We were able to see that the minerals weren’t heavily modified and then we discovered that it had a rich inventory of extraterrestrial organic compounds, ”Heck said.
“These kinds of organic compounds were probably delivered to Earth by meteorites and could have contributed to the ingredients of life,” he added.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
“When the meteorite hit the field, I spent the whole weekend analyzing it, because I was so excited to find out what kind of meteorite it was and what was in it,” said Jennika Greer, study co-author and PhD student at Field and University of Chicago
“With every meteor that falls, there is a possibility that there is something completely new and totally unexpected.”
Scientists believe that the Hamburg meteorite detached from an asteroid and a travelt through space until it landed on Earth. An analysis of the meteorite revealed that the rock was exposed to cosmic rays for 12 million years.
The meteorite came from in an asteroid that formed 4.5 billion years ago, nearly 20 million years after the formation of our solar system, Heck said.
The 2,600 different organic compounds that cover the Hamburg meteorite formed on its parent asteroid.
Editing: Monica Bonea
