A meteorite lands in a house in Georgia
On June 26, a mysterious meteorite was seen in the middle of the day in the southern United States sky, before crossing the roof of a house in Georgia. The latter, the size of a cherry tomato, had aroused many reports from the inhabitants of the region, after they heard a deafening noise during the descent of the space rock.
A meteorite older than the earth
After analyzing the samples using an optical and electronic microscope, the researchers defined the rock as “an ordinary chondrite with a low metal content”, as announced by the University of Georgia via a press release. If the fact that it is chondrite does not surprise as such, since it is the type of meteorite most often found on earth, it is its age which has surprised.
Indeed, the meteorite is said to be 4.56 billion years old, 200 million years older than the land (4.54 billion years). “It is up to a group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that we now think we can relate to the rupture of a much larger asteroid about 470 million years ago”said Scott Harris.
Georgia, a meteorite magnet
According to specialists, this meteorite, called for the moment “meteorite of McDonough”, is the 27th meteorite found in Georgia, and the sixth whose fall was directly observed. An important figure which can be explained by the new technologies available to science.
“Previously, it was expected that it happens once every few decades, and not several times in 20 years,” said the planetary geologist before continuing by declaring that “modern technology and public attention will help us recover more and more meteorites”.
Source: University of Georgia
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