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A chunk of a rare meteor that lit up the night sky over the UK and northern Europe last week has been recovered from a driveway in Gloucestershire.
The fragment, which weighs nearly 300 grams, and other pieces of the space rock were located after scientists reconstructed the flight path of the fireball that unleashed a sonic boom as it streaked through the sky shortly before 10 p.m. from the United Kingdom, on Sunday, February 28.
The chunk of black rock, a carbonaceous chondrite never before seen in the UK, struck a driveway in the Cotswolds town of Winchcombe, scientists from the Natural History Museum in London said, adding that more fragments were recovered nearby.
Ashley Green, a museum scientist, said it was “a dream come true” to be one of the first people to see and study a meteorite that had been recovered almost immediately after its fall.
Images of the bright streak captured by the public, and a network of cameras operated by the Natural History Museum’s Fireball Alliance of the United Kingdom, helped the researchers calculate that the meteor had spent most of its orbit between Mars and Jupiter before crashing into Earth’s atmosphere.
Computer modeling revealed that any surviving remnants of the meteor are likely to fall as meteorites north of Cheltenham, but with the space rock traveling at around 30,000 mph, the precise location was difficult to predict.
What will likely be known as the Winchcombe meteorite is the first to be recovered in the UK in 30 years and the first carbonaceous chondrite found in the country to date. Of about 65,000 known meteorites on Earth, only 51 are carbonaceous chondrites. A mixture of minerals and organic compounds, including the building blocks of life’s amino acids, they are considered the most primitive and pristine materials in the solar system.
Since the meteor was discovered on Wednesday, Dr. King has been advising on the care and transport of the rock back to London, where it will be officially classified and further studied to understand its significance.
Richard Greenwood, a planetary scientist at the Open University, said he was “in shock” when he saw the piece of rock. “It’s exciting to be the first to confirm to the people in front of you that the thud they heard in the driveway at night is, in fact, real,” he said.
University professor Monica Grady told the BBC that the fragments were like “a broken barbecue briquette … one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”
Still more fragments such as black stones, piles of tiny rocks or even dust can be found, scientists believe. People in the area who find possible remains are urged to take a photo and record the location before collecting a foil sample and contacting the Museum of Natural History.
