Scientists recently discovered a new kind of meteorite in the Thorsberg Quarry in Sweden.
The location has also been a source for over a hundred L‑chondrites, which are the most common type of meteorite. They named this new one Ost‑65.
Different On The Inside
Scientists have collected over 50,000 meteorite specimens from around the world. While this meteorite wouldn't like immediately different to a lay-person--it's four inches and gray rock--its chemical make-up is what distinguishes it from other meteorites found so far on Earth.
This meteorite has a chromium-to-oxygen ratio that's distinct from that of all known meteorites.
Ost-65 Before We Knew It
Scientists believe a large asteroid collision happened 470 million years. One of the objects in the collision is believed to be the source of the L‑chondrites, but the object it collided with was a mystery.
Since scientists have dated Ost‑65 to be 470 million years old, they think that its source may have been the other object in the asteroid collision.
While this finding will be studied in the years to come, it does let researchers know that the meteorites falling to earth hundreds of millions of years ago are a lot different from the meteorites falling in the present.
Sources And Further Reading:
- Oskin, Becky. "New Type of Meteorite Linked to Ancient Asteroid Collision." UC Davis. June 15, 2016. Accessed December 20, 2016.
- Schmitz, B., Q. -Z. Yin, M. E. Sanborn, M. Tassinari, C. E. Caplan, and G. R. Huss. "A new type of solar-system material recovered from Ordovician marine limestone." Nature Communications 7 (June 14, 2016). Accessed December 20, 2016. doi:10.1038/ncomms11851.
