Meteorites are rocky things that fall from space. In most cases, meteorites burn out as soon as they enter the earth’s atmosphere. A team of scientists have now discovered a massive 7.7 kg meteorite in Antarctica. While this 7.7 kg stone might not sound like much, it is actually considered a massive object in the world of meteorites.
Besides the massive one, scientists have also found four smaller meteorites in the same vicinity. Given most of the Antarctic’s surface is covered by snow, it makes it easy to spot and discover black-coloured stone-like meteorites.
A team of four has also made use of technology like satellite imaging to spot meteorites and it is said to have a higher scientifical value. Over the years, scientists have discovered over 45,000 meteorites in the Antarctic area, and the massive one belongs to the elite club of the 100 largest meteorites that they have ever found.
“The meteorite’s size, however, is less important than its sediment: next, Maria and her co-researchers will study its make-up and search for potential micrometeorites.” says Field Museum and they also said that “Antarctica is remote, bitterly cold, dry: conditions that make it a tough place to work, but excellent for finding meteorites with minimal weathering.”
The team was led by Maria Valdes, a Cosmochemist in the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Scientists will now ship these to a research facility — Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences to further study and understand various characteristics of the meteorites, which are usually a part of a planet, asteroids, or comets. Some of these could even come from a different solar system and will be composed of various minerals.