Posted on 01/20/2023 11:45:47 AM PST by Red Badger
Large Antarctica meteorite
The large meteorite that's been recovered. (Maria Valdes)
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Antarctica has a lot going for it when it comes to meteorite hunting. The dark rocks stand out against the icy landscape. Its dry climate keeps weathering to a minimum. And even when meteorites sink into the ice they are often returned to the surface by the churning of the glaciers.
In spite of these ideal conditions, finding sizeable chunks of space rock is rare.
A group of researchers have just returned from the ice-covered continent with five new meteorites that include an unusually large specimen.
The big find in this haul weighs in at 7.6 kilograms (16.8 pounds), placing it in the top 100 in terms of size for meteorites recovered in Antarctica over the past century. Considering some 45,000 have been recovered in that time, that's saying something.
This monster of a space rock is now being taken back to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, where it will be studied closely along with the smaller rocks. Scientists can learn a lot from the journeys that meteorites have had to our planet.
"Size doesn't necessarily matter when it comes to meteorites, and even tiny micrometeorites can be incredibly scientifically valuable," says cosmochemist Maria Valdes, from the Field Museum in Illinois. "But of course, finding a big meteorite like this one is rare, and really exciting."
While meteorites might be easier to spot in Antarctica, the continent isn't exactly easy to travel across, with its freezing cold conditions and remote location. The team involved in this find spent several days camping out in the wilderness, moving by foot and snowmobile.
It also helps to know where meteorites are likely to be found. Here the researchers used a 'treasure map' that was published last year, which uses clues found in satellite imagery – such as ice flow, temperature, and surface slope measurements – to make educated guesses with the help of AI as to where new rocks might be found.
Antarctica meteorite expedition
The researchers at work on an ice field. (Maria Valdes)
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"Going on an adventure exploring unknown areas is exciting," says geoscientist Vinciane Debaille, from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
"But we also had to deal with the fact that the reality on the ground is much more difficult than the beauty of satellite images."
The map used by the researchers is thought to be around 80 percent accurate in terms of the directions it gives, and its makers have calculated that more than 300,000 meteorites are out there in Antarctica, waiting to be found.
Despite the favorable conditions in Antarctica for meteorite discovery, scientists think we're still missing out on finding a lot of them, particularly those high in iron. Part of the reason might be these types of meteorite heat up in the sunlight, melting the surrounding ice and sinking out of sight below the surface.
However, there's now an exciting new haul of these rocks ready and waiting to be looked at more closely – and somewhere in the newly recovered meteorites should be traces of the history of the Solar System that we exist in.
"The bigger a sample size we have of meteorites, the better we can understand our Solar System, and the better we can understand ourselves," says Valdes.
“Antarctica, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the rock Meteorite. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no rock has gone before…”
I was expecting something similar to the 34-ton meteorite that Robert Peary found in Greenland. How anyone managed to move that rock to New York City still amazes me.
The sled dogs must have hated that. ;^)
Mussolini had that obelisk in Axum hauled to Rome in 1937, in pieces, by contrast Caligula had a 350+ ton obelisk hauled to Rome in a single piece 1900 years earlier. :^)
Yes, I remember the news story when that obelisk was returned to Ethiopia. I wonder what was used to put it back together?
Here’s a greater moving job. It’s twin was moved to London ENG.
Ref: Cleopatra’s Needle in NYC (Central Park)
How much did the obelisk weigh?
Moving the monument from Alexandria to New York City was an incredible engineering accomplishment. It measures 69 feet from base to tip and 8 feet wide at its base and weighs around 200 tons. Its pedestal and steps are 27 feet high and weigh 50 tons.
Maybe it was glued, upon the advice of the Cairo museum. ;^)
“This monster of a space rock...” Wow, I said, that 16.8 lb. rock weights more than 2 gallons of water. I have seen the real monster rock in the Museum of Natural History, NYC.
Yes, that is the meteorite I was talking about. I saw it in 1975.
Yes I have read it multiple times!!!!!!😄............
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