Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
The meteorite that survived its entry into Earth's atmosphere on June 26 and impacted the roof of a house in the town of McDonough, near Atlanta, in the United States, was formed 4.56 billion years ago, making it older than Earth.
This is the conclusion drawn from initial analyses conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia.
According to NASA estimates, the meteorite was one meter wide and was traveling at 47,000 kilometers per hour.
Upon entering the atmosphere in broad daylight, it left a bright trail clearly visible in the southeastern United States, so much so that the American Meteor Society received more than 240 reports of sightings.
Many people also heard a sonic boom.
After impacting the roof of the house, the meteorite shattered, and one fragment even left a hole in the ground.
Of the 50 grams recovered, 23 were analyzed using optical and electron microscopy.
The results indicate that the meteorite could be a common chondrite with a low metal content.
This classification implies that the space rock formed 4.56 billion years ago in the presence of oxygen, making it older than Earth. "It belongs to a group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that we now believe we can link to the disintegration of a much larger asteroid that occurred about 470 million years ago", explained geologist Scott Harris. (Source: ANSA)
