German Man Finds Rock From Early Solar System in His Front Yard

Scientists have released theirinitial analysisof a meteorite that fall over Europe last September . They report that the rock , the remnant of a daytime bolide that impacted Earth with an DOE of 0.48 kilotons of TNT ( aroundthis much ) , is a carbonaceous chondrite — the variety of meteor that take stuff from the early date of reference of the solar system .

On September 12 , 2019 , more than 500 people across the Netherlands , Germany , Belgium , Denmark , and the UKreportedseeing a blink of an eye of light across the sky in broad daylight . The next day , a man named Erik Due - Hansen in Flensburg , Germany trip upon a smooth , black , 24.5 - gramme meteorite chunk on his front lawn and reached out to authorities , who impart the rock to the Institut für Planetologie at Münster University in Germany , where professor Addi Bischoff and PhD pupil Markus Patzek analyzed the specimen , now dub Flensburg .

The pair ’s rake negatron microscope analysis unwrap that the meteorite hold 0.05- to 1 - millimeter spheres called chondrule with abundant horizontal surface of minerals called phyllosilicates and carbonates , minerals that require water to shape . They assort the meteorite as a a carbonic chondrite — a kind of ancient rock that could be made up of the same textile as the planetesimals that forge and delivered piss to early Earth .

The surface of the Flensburg meteorite

The surface of the Flensburg meteoritePhoto: WWU - Markus Patzek

Finds like these are exciting for a mickle of understanding ; they representonly 3 percentof the meteorite found on Earth but are among the most crucial to scientist , since they control a record of the material that could have existed in the solar system 4.5 billion year ago . Perhaps the most noted carbonaceous chondrite is the 220 - pound Murchison meteorite , which contains surprising molecules likeamino acids and sugars .

scientist can aggregate information from these carbonaceous chondrite with observation gleaned from rock in taboo space . When the Hayabusa2 spacecraft ’s MASCOT landertumbled into a holeon the asteroid Ryugu , its cameras break that the surface of this body looked a whole lot like a carboniferous chondrite itself . Rocks like the Flensburg asteroid likely looked similar to asteroid like Ryugu before entering Earth ’s atmosphere — though there ’s oeuvre left to be done to to the full infer the connection between meteorites on Earth and the kind of planetary body that produced them .

you may find out more on theMeteoritical Bulletin ’s Searchable Database(where you may also do cool things like see where the closest meteorite happen near your mansion is ) . But mainly , I just think it ’s slap-up to find out the full story behind a fireball .

Photo: WWU - Markus Patzek