Recently, the Desert Fireball Network of Curtin University traced the meteorites in Australian lake, Eyre. The total weight of meteorite is 1.7 Killo Gram. Its age is estimated around 4.5 billion years.
Photo: Curtin University/Desert Fireball Network
According to http://www.abc.net.au/ , recent discovery of meteorite plunged to Earth in the November. The team of Curtin University has been after this. However it was tracked later in remote spot in Australian Outback beside Lake Eyre.
Phil Bland, a geologist professor who is also a leader of team, extracted it from the soil by hand. He said,
"It was an amazing effort," Bland said in a press release from the university. "We got there by the skin of our teeth."
Professor Bland said. "It is older than the Earth itself. It's the oldest rock you'll ever hold in your hand."
"It came to us from beyond the orbit of Mars, so in between Mars and Jupiter."
Across WA and South Australia, a new observation of network of 32 remote cameras appears to be helping in finding meteorite. The geologist and researchers spent on 3 days operations to get it. There were 2 researchers, an aerial spotter, quad bike, a drone and local aboriginal guides. It was very difficult to make observation from air due to stormy weather and rain.
The cameras (Desert Fireball Network) assisted in research area upto 500 meter. As per the researchers and geologists, the meteorite is a form of chondroitin. Or in other words, it is a stony meteorite. Early estimation is that it is 4.5 billion years old.
It is also observation by a few scientists that first Asteroid which stroke the Earth and became cause of dinosaurs extinction --- It was broken up between Mars and Jupiter.
Reuters / NASA
The Cameras
The Desert Fireball Network records the picture of meteors during their falling. It is attached to a software which help in tracking direction, calculation of sped, landing zone and actual orbit of meteoric. It can tell the original body of the meteors from where it is coming. After finding the object, it can be further analyzed regarding its characteristics, chemical composition, or composition of actual body from where it has fallen apart. The scientists can observe the solar system through getting information from the observations and analysis of meteorite.
What is Meteorite?
Meteorite is a rocky fragment which has come from outer space from earth as a meteor. The Meteorite is consisted of 90% rock material and rest is based on iron and nickel. When any object or rock enters the earth atmosphere, it has to face various resistances on the way. Such as friction, environmental effects, chemical interaction, pressure. It can react or be affected by chemical interactions within atmosphere gases which make them heated or radiated. All these changes affect the object and make it in form of meteor. It falls on earth like a fireball. Because of this, it is also called shooting / falling star.
Only those meteorites survive which comes in a very large sizes. Most of the part becomes damaged or finished during atmospheric entry and on the way changes.
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