WASHINGTON - A chunk of the moon that landed on Earth as a meteorite contains a new mineral, which scientists have named after a researcher who years ago predicted the unusual process that formed the material.


Grains of the material, made of iron and silicon, were found in pieces of a meteorite that was discovered in Oman on the Saudi peninsula, said Lawrence A. Taylor of the University of Tennessee, a member of the research team that reported the find.


The process that led to the material's formation on the moon "is much different than anything we can imagine on Earth," Taylor explained.


Small meteorites that would burn up in an atmosphere like Earth's can crash into the moon because of its lack of an atmosphere. The mineral was found in a piece of the moon that had been large enough to make it through the Earth's atmosphere without being destroyed.


When that happens, Taylor explained, the impact creates heat that melts some of the rocks and forms a vapor that is deposited on nearby materials.

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