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Meteorite is first UK find in 30 years


Eldorado

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Several rocky fragments have been recovered from the fireball that lit up the sky above southern England just over a week ago.

They came down in the Winchcombe area of Gloucestershire.

A householder first alerted experts after noticing a pile of charred stone on his driveway. Other members of the public have since come forward with their own finds.

It's 30 years since meteorite material was last retrieved in the UK.

Researchers are particularly thrilled because of the rarity of the rock type.

BBC report

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Winchcombe meteorite gets official classification

The rocky material that fell to Earth in a blazing fireball over the Cotswold town of Winchcombe in February has had its classification formally accepted.

Details have just been published by the international Meteoritical Society in its bulletin database.

Early work by UK scientists indicates the Winchcombe object dates back to the very beginning of the Solar System, some 4.6 billion years ago.

This makes it extremely valuable. Certainly, it is the most important space rock ever to fall and be recovered in Britain.

Formal classification basically means the dark grey-to-black material picked up in Gloucestershire earlier this year is now absolutely recognised as being meteoritic in nature, and it means also that the name "Winchcombe" can be used to describe it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57763422

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?

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Winchcombe meteorite driveway to go on display

It’s the most famous driveway in Britain and a section of it is now heading to London’s Natural History Museum to go on public display.

Workmen have lifted the tarmac where a meteorite fell on the Gloucestershire town of Winchcombe in February.

It was the first space rock in 30 years to be seen to come down over the UK and then be recovered.

And that’s given the driveway to the home of the Wilcock family what you might call celebrity status.

The remains of the stony meteorite, known as a carbonaceous chondrite, have long since been removed. Scientists were eager to get studying it as soon as possible because it holds chemical clues to the formation of the Solar System some 4.6 billion years ago.

But the driveway, with its mini-crater, has a fascination, too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58493430

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Winchcombe meteorite fragments auctioned for more than gold

A bean-sized fragment of the meteorite that fell on the English town of Winchcombe last year has sold at auction for more than 120 times the value of its weight in gold.

The 1.7g chunk of blackened rock greatly exceeded its pre-sale estimate, fetching £9,256 ($12,600).

A second piece topped £20,000, although gram for gram its value was less.

Winchcombe is regarded scientifically as the most important space rock ever to be recovered in the UK.

It contains pristine chemistry from the formation of the Solar System.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60495954

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Extra-terrestrial water has been found in a British meteorite for the first time - and it closely resembles Earth’s oceans, scientists have confirmed.

Dr Ashley King, of the Planetary Materials Group at NHM and the UK Fireball Alliance, told delegates at the British Science Festival in Leicester: “What's really exciting for us for us is that Winchcombe meteorite was collected about 12 hours after landing, so the water that's in the rock hasn't been contaminated with the water that we have in our atmosphere. So it's basically really fresh.

“We can be really confident when we measure the water that it is extra-terrestrial water. The composition of that water is very very similar to the composition of the water in the Earth’s oceans.

“So it’s a really good piece of evidence that asteroids and bodies like Winchcombe were delivering really important contributions to the Earth’s oceans.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/winchcombe-meteorite-which-landed-on-a-uk-driveway-contains-extra-terrestrial-water/ar-AA11UFZt?

Edited by Eldorado
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meteorite that fell in the UK last year holds key information about how oceans and life formed on Earth, scientists have said. An analysis of the space rock, which fell on to Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, has revealed it contains 11 per cent water and 2 per cent carbon. The Winchcombe meteorite belongs to a rare class of rocks known as carbonaceous chondrites. Carbonaceous chondrites comprise about 3 per cent of all meteorites collected on Earth and are thought to contain unaltered chemicals from the formation of the solar system more than four billion years ago.

Analysis of the meteorite sample revealed extraterrestrial water that is, what the researchers say, “is locked-up in minerals that formed during chemical reactions between fluids and rocks on its parent asteroid in the earliest stages of the solar system”.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/meteorite-that-fell-on-britain-has-clues-to-how-life-formed-on-earth/ar-AA14cGpv?

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New research has been published on the organic analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite that crash landed onto a driveway in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire in 2021. The research, led by Dr. Queenie Chan, from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, found organic compounds from space that hold the secrets to the origin of life.

The Winchcombe meteorite is a rare carbon rich chondritic meteorite (approximately 4% of all recovered meteorites, containing up to 3.5 weight percent of carbon) and is the first ever meteorite of this type to be found in the U.K. with an observed meteorite fall event, with more than 1,000 eyewitnesses and numerous footages of the fireball.

The amino acid abundance of Winchcombe is ten times lower than other types of carbonaceous chondritic meteorites and was a challenge to study due to the limited detection of amino acids, but with the meteorite so promptly recovered and curated, the team were able to study the organic content of the meteorite prior to its interaction with the Earth's environment. The organic matter suggests the meteorite could represent a class of unique, weak meteorite not previously studied.

https://phys.org/news/2023-01-blocks-life-meteorite-gloucestershire.html

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.13936

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'Pristine' meteorite contaminated with table salt upon crash landing on Earth

A meteorite that crashed into a driveway in Winchcombe, England, became contaminated with a sprinkling of table salt within hours of landing, dashing hopes that it could be a "pristine" example of a primitive type of space rock. 

"It shows just how reactive meteorites are to our atmosphere, and how careful we need to be about ensuring that we take this kind of terrestrial alteration into account when we analyze meteorites," Jenkins said. 

The findings also raise the stakes on getting meteorites into stable storage in laboratory conditions as quickly as possible, study co-author Luke Daly, a lecturer in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow, said in the statement. The researchers recommended that newly discovered meteorites be stored in inert gas to minimize reactions.

https://www.livescience.com/pristine-meteorite-contaminated-with-table-salt-upon-crash-landing-on-earth

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.13949

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