Experts Studying Meteorite Find Stunning Object Hidden Inside
NASA and other scientists around the world are doing their part to learn more about our nearly infinite universe. Despite their expertise, however, they don't always recognize everything they find. In fact, one extraterrestrial object recovered from a remote location contained a shocking new discovery. It's very possible that the Khatyrka meteorite could transform what we know about outer space.
Big, Big World
Researchers could hardly believe their luck in actually locating the specimen. The circumference of the entire planet is just under 25,000 miles, which seems massive. And yet they stumbled upon one strange object. Getting to it was far from easy.
Koryak Mountains
In 2011, a meteorite named Khatyrka landed in the Koryak Mountains of eastern Siberia. While the landing site was incredibly remote, scientists were soon making their way to Russia to investigate.
Impact Crater
Given the fact that meteorites literally come from outer space, they almost always have scientific value. Each impact crater provides a new opportunity for discovery; it's like Christmas morning for an astronomer.
Recovered Shards
But in this case, scientists didn't find any massive meteorites. They did manage to remove a few shards of interstellar material from the clay-like soil. Those pieces, however, still proved to be significant.
Composition
Analysis showed that the shards consisted of a mineral containing isotopes of oxygen and other particles. The scientists weren't quite sure what to make of this discovery, but they decided to press ahead with further testing.
Comparing Samples
The oldest meteorites have been dated to over four billion years ago; even the newest ones, which come from the moon, are around three billion years old. But the scientists would find something even more notable than the sample's age.
Structurally Unusual
Upon examining the ancient mineral, they noticed something structurally unusual. These samples were clearly different than what was normally found in a meteorite. There was a different shape under the microscope.
Crystals Inside
They found crystals. And while you may think of crystals as something pretty to observe in a cave or add to an engagement ring, they're scientifically significant, too.
Set Structure
Crystals are defined by a regular, predictable atomic structure. Those lattice patterns are then repeated over and over, creating the glass-like material that we're all familiar with. But this crystal was different.
Erratic Patterns
While the crystals within the meteorite had the traditional lattice structure, it didn't repeat in a consistent manner. Instead, the connections fell into uneven patterns, unlike anything found on earth.
What Does It Mean?
Slowly, the scientists realized what they were seeing. This alien pattern had never been produced naturally, but it had been studied before! Things were starting to make sense.
Quasicrystals
These were quasicrystals! While they had been produced by scientists since the 1960s, they had never been found in nature. In fact, some researchers even doubted they could exist outside of a lab.
Steinhardt's Hypothesis
Paul Steinhardt, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist at Princeton University, always believed that quasicrystals could form naturally. He recognized this meteorite as a massive chance to confirm his hypothesis.
Bizarre Ratios
He and his team looked at the particles in the crystal and noticed something bizarre. The ratio of oxygen isotopes to other isotopes was way off. Slowly, they realized what it meant.
Alien Mineral
They were looking at a new mineral that was not from this planet! The crystals were created in the high-pressure environment of outer space years before crashing down in Russia.
Breakthrough
The discovery proved Steinhardt partially right. While the quasicrystals weren't formed on Earth, they were capable of existing in nature. It might not have been a full confirmation, but it was still a major scientific breakthrough.
Rare Matter
“The finding is important evidence that quasicrystals can form in nature under astrophysical conditions," he said. "And provides evidence that this phase of matter can remain stable over billions of years.”
More Evidence
But Steinhardt wasn't done. He and his team were able to recover a few more samples of the meteorite and find two additional examples of quasicrystals. All the discoveries combined to prove a valuable lesson.
Learning More
It just goes to prove that there's always more we can discover about the universe we call home. And conclusions drawn from the Khatyrka discovery helped identify another mysterious substance. This object wasn't on the radar of NASA or any other scientific body; it was found by the least likely person.
Treasure Fiend
Dave Hole was no stranger to treasure hunting. In fact, walking through Maryborough Regional Park while searching for something special hidden beneath the soil was one of his favorite past times. But one day, he got in far deeper than he every expected.
Big Rock
In 2015, while going about his normal route, he happened on something that seemed incredibly promising: a large, reddish rock, that was surprisingly heavy. He didn't want to get his hopes up; he had suspicions as to what it was.
Possibly Gold
Hole took what he thought was gold ore home and got to work trying to break it apart. He tried everything he could, but the thing was incredibly sturdy. He even hit it with a sledgehammer, which failed to scratch its surface.
Ask the Experts
Stumped, Hole stored the rock in his home for the next four years, planning on one day getting all the gold out of it. It wasn't until 2019 that he stuck it in his backpack and marched over to the Melbourne Museum.
Geologists Weigh In
There, Hole met geologist Dermot Henry, the person responsible for testing samples that people bring in to the museum. In particular, a large part of his role involves examining possible meteorites to test their authenticity.
Testing Phase
Of course, testing the specimens was really more of a formality than anything — even after working at the museum for 37 years and testing thousands of samples, only two of those had ever turned out to be real meteorites.
Double Take
This is why, when Mr. Hole walked into his office and hoisted a large red rock out of his backpack, the scientist did a double take. This particular artifact was very promising, Henry thought.
Unique Look
“It had this sculpted, dimpled look to it,” he remarked. “That’s formed when they come through the atmosphere, they are melting on the outside, and the atmosphere sculpts them.” Could it really be true that this was the genuine thing?
Hard to Lift
Upon lifting the rock, Henry was even more encouraged. It was way heavier than it should have been for a normal rock found on Earth, especially considering its size.
Heavy Metal
Generally speaking, meteorites tend to be heavier due to dense deposits of iron and nickel found inside of them. All signs were pointing to Mr. Hole's discovery being something very special indeed.
Amazed
Lo and behold, when the tests were completed, both Henry and Hole were left in absolute amazement. The red rock was a meteorite, and even more fascinating, it was an impressive 4.6 billion years old — which carries serious implications.
From Outer Space
The geologist cut out a cross section of the meteorite with a very powerful tool known as a diamond saw. What they beheld was more awe-inspiring than almost anything the scientist had seen in his years of working.
Cross Section
The cross section revealed beautiful silver droplets inside, but not just any droplets. These had been formed billions of years ago, crystallized from the cloud of incredibly hot gas that formed our solar system as we know it.
H5 Chondrite
The name of the meteorite, Mr. Hole would soon learn, was H5 Chondrite, and it had a highly interesting origin story, much more intriguing than any gold deposit could ever hope to be.
Meteorite Origins
See, 4.6 billion years ago, the universe was much different than it is today. It was comprised of tons of these same rocks, chondrite, orbiting around the sun. Looking at this meteorite was almost like looking at the origins of life itself.
Forming Planets
Eventually, these chunks of chondrite would cluster together, forming Earth as well as the other rocky planets. However, some of the fascinating material was still left over...
A Rare Event
The majority of the remaining chondrite now sits in the belt between Jupiter and Mars; every now and then, two pieces of it will collide, leading to a one-of-a-kind event.
Space Shards
When this celestial collision happens, the impact sends shards of the otherworldly rock hurdling towards Earth. This is how the piece of chondrite that was eventually discovered by Mr. Hole began its journey.
Relatively New
Due to the lack of weathering, it's likely that this specific piece had only been on Earth for less than two hundred years; this makes it likely that someone had actually seen it fall.
Newspaper Evidence
Sure enough, a look at local newspaper records from the time almost confirm this theory, as residents of Maryborough in the 1950s report having seen balls of fire shooting across the night sky!
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