Posted on 12/26/2020 11:02:02 AM PST by BenLurkin
The evidence for this mystery space rock comes from a diamond-studded meteor that exploded over Sudan in 2008.
NASA had spotted the 9-ton (8,200 kilograms), 13-foot (4 meters) meteor heading toward the planet well before impact, and researchers showed up in the Sudanese desert to collect an unusually rich haul of remains. Now, a new study of one of those meteorites suggests that the meteor may have broken off of a giant asteroid — one more or less the size of the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.
The meteorite harbored an unusual suite of minerals that form at "intermediate" temperatures and pressures (higher than what you'd find in a typical asteroid, but lower than the inside of a planet). One mineral in particular, amphibole also requires prolonged exposure to water to develop.
Amphibole is common enough on Earth, but it's only appeared once before in trace amounts in a meteorite known as Allende — the largest carbonaceous chondrite ever found, which fell in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1969
The high amphibole content of AhS suggests the fragment broke off a parent asteroid that's never left meteorites on Earth before.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Bet that made Miss Hazel witchier than usual.
Why exactly is it mysterious?
Well, if it’s like… Ceres, it must be HUGH!
OMG! we are all DOOMED I tell you DOOMED.
This topic was posted . Thanks BenLurkin.
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“About the size of Ceres”
Thats Hugh and Ceres.
At the risk of insulting Dwarfs, shouldn’t they have written tiny planet instead?
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