Rare and expensive fragments of a Mars meteorite fell from the sky in July over Morocco, a team of international scientists confirmed on Wednesday.
A fireball in the sky was observed in a remote region of southern Morocco by nomads who tracked down fragments of the seven kilogram (15 pound) meteorite, marking only the fifth time in history that a Mars rock has been seen falling to Earth.
This is an important and unique opportunity for scientists trying to learn about Mars' potential for life. So far, no Nasa or Russian spacecraft has returned bits of Mars, so the only samples scientists can examine are those that come here in meteorite showers.
A special committee of meteorite experts, including some Nasa scientists, confirmed test results that showed the rocks came from Mars, based on their age and chemical signature. A team of eight experts with the Meteoritical Society analyzed the pieces and determined that they are authentic chunks of the red planet, said Carl Agee, part of the team and curator at the University of New Mexico.
“This discovery is tremendously important because of the quality of the sample,” Agee told AFP.
"It's Christmas in January," said former Nasa sciences chief Alan Stern, director of the Florida Space Institute at the University of Central Florida. "It's nice to have Mars sending samples to Earth, particularly when our pockets are too empty to go get them ourselves."
University of Alberta meteorite expert Chris Herd, who heads the committee that certified the discovery, said the first thing he would do with the rocks would be to rinse them with solvents to try to get rid of earthly contamination and to see what carbon-based compounds are left.
The Moroccans who found the fragments quickly sold them to dealers, and museums scrambled to purchase them at a range of $500 to $1,000 dollars per gram, said Agee, whose museum now possesses a 108 gram piece. The price for meteorites ranges from 10 to 20 times the price of gold.
The new samples were scooped up by dealers from those who found them. Even before the official certification, scientists at Nasa, museums and universities scrambled to buy or trade these meteorites.
"It's incredibly fresh. It's highly valuable for that reason," said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics and curator at the University of New Mexico. "This is a beauty. It's gorgeous."
Meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt said he was charging 11,000- 22,500 dollars (£7,100-£14,700) an ounce and has sold most of his supply already. At that price, the Martian rock costs about 10 times as much as gold.
“Some of these meteorites have atmospheric gas trapped inside glassy material. When they are heated and released in the laboratory and measured it’s identical to the Mars atmosphere that all the Mars probes have measured,” said Agee.
Scientists can identify meteorites from Mars because of what they know about the Martian atmosphere based on numerous probes sent there. The chemical signature of the rocks and the Martian air match, said Tony Irving of the University of Washington.
Another clue is that because Mars is geologically active, its rocks tend to be much younger — millions of years old instead of hundreds of millions or more — than those from the moon or asteroids.
“All planets, like Venus, Mars and Earth, they have very different atmospheres,” he added. “It’s like a fingerprint.”
Scientists and collectors are ecstatic and already the rocks are fetching big bucks because they are among the rarest things on Earth, rarer even than gold. The biggest rock weighs more than 2lbs. The meteorite was named Tissint, after the village where the rocks were found, and its discovery was documented in the Meteoritical Society’s latest bulletin issued January 17. “At about 2:00 am local time on July 18, 2011, a bright fireball was observed by several people in the region of the Oued Draa valley, east of Tata, Morocco,” it said.
The announcement and the naming of these meteorites - called Tissint - came from the International Society for Meteoritics and Planetary Science, which is the official group of 950 scientists that confirms and names meteorites. “One eyewitness, Mr Aznid Lhou, reported that it was at first yellow in color, and then turned green illuminating all the area before it appeared to split into two parts. Two sonic booms were heard over the valley.” By October, “nomads began to find very fresh, fusion-crusted stones in a remote area” about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east-southeast of Tata.
Agee said such Mars meteorite events only happen about once every 50 years, with the last such event in 1962 in Nigeria. Of about 100 Mars meteorites currently in Earth collections, only five have been seen to fall. The first known meteorite from Mars was found in France in 1815, a specimen called Chassigny that Agee described as “probably one of the most expensive meteorites in the world.” Because known Martian meteorite falls happen only once every 50 years or so - 1815 in France, 1865 in India, 1911 in Egypt and 1962 in Nigeria.
A fireball in the sky was observed in a remote region of southern Morocco by nomads who tracked down fragments of the seven kilogram (15 pound) meteorite, marking only the fifth time in history that a Mars rock has been seen falling to Earth.
This is an important and unique opportunity for scientists trying to learn about Mars' potential for life. So far, no Nasa or Russian spacecraft has returned bits of Mars, so the only samples scientists can examine are those that come here in meteorite showers.
A special committee of meteorite experts, including some Nasa scientists, confirmed test results that showed the rocks came from Mars, based on their age and chemical signature. A team of eight experts with the Meteoritical Society analyzed the pieces and determined that they are authentic chunks of the red planet, said Carl Agee, part of the team and curator at the University of New Mexico.
“This discovery is tremendously important because of the quality of the sample,” Agee told AFP.
"It's Christmas in January," said former Nasa sciences chief Alan Stern, director of the Florida Space Institute at the University of Central Florida. "It's nice to have Mars sending samples to Earth, particularly when our pockets are too empty to go get them ourselves."
University of Alberta meteorite expert Chris Herd, who heads the committee that certified the discovery, said the first thing he would do with the rocks would be to rinse them with solvents to try to get rid of earthly contamination and to see what carbon-based compounds are left.
The Moroccans who found the fragments quickly sold them to dealers, and museums scrambled to purchase them at a range of $500 to $1,000 dollars per gram, said Agee, whose museum now possesses a 108 gram piece. The price for meteorites ranges from 10 to 20 times the price of gold.
The new samples were scooped up by dealers from those who found them. Even before the official certification, scientists at Nasa, museums and universities scrambled to buy or trade these meteorites.
"It's incredibly fresh. It's highly valuable for that reason," said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics and curator at the University of New Mexico. "This is a beauty. It's gorgeous."
Meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt said he was charging 11,000- 22,500 dollars (£7,100-£14,700) an ounce and has sold most of his supply already. At that price, the Martian rock costs about 10 times as much as gold.
“Some of these meteorites have atmospheric gas trapped inside glassy material. When they are heated and released in the laboratory and measured it’s identical to the Mars atmosphere that all the Mars probes have measured,” said Agee.
Scientists can identify meteorites from Mars because of what they know about the Martian atmosphere based on numerous probes sent there. The chemical signature of the rocks and the Martian air match, said Tony Irving of the University of Washington.
Another clue is that because Mars is geologically active, its rocks tend to be much younger — millions of years old instead of hundreds of millions or more — than those from the moon or asteroids.
“All planets, like Venus, Mars and Earth, they have very different atmospheres,” he added. “It’s like a fingerprint.”
Scientists and collectors are ecstatic and already the rocks are fetching big bucks because they are among the rarest things on Earth, rarer even than gold. The biggest rock weighs more than 2lbs. The meteorite was named Tissint, after the village where the rocks were found, and its discovery was documented in the Meteoritical Society’s latest bulletin issued January 17. “At about 2:00 am local time on July 18, 2011, a bright fireball was observed by several people in the region of the Oued Draa valley, east of Tata, Morocco,” it said.
The announcement and the naming of these meteorites - called Tissint - came from the International Society for Meteoritics and Planetary Science, which is the official group of 950 scientists that confirms and names meteorites. “One eyewitness, Mr Aznid Lhou, reported that it was at first yellow in color, and then turned green illuminating all the area before it appeared to split into two parts. Two sonic booms were heard over the valley.” By October, “nomads began to find very fresh, fusion-crusted stones in a remote area” about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east-southeast of Tata.
Agee said such Mars meteorite events only happen about once every 50 years, with the last such event in 1962 in Nigeria. Of about 100 Mars meteorites currently in Earth collections, only five have been seen to fall. The first known meteorite from Mars was found in France in 1815, a specimen called Chassigny that Agee described as “probably one of the most expensive meteorites in the world.” Because known Martian meteorite falls happen only once every 50 years or so - 1815 in France, 1865 in India, 1911 in Egypt and 1962 in Nigeria.
Pieces of Mars are believed to have broken loose at some time in history when a massive meteor crashed into the surface of the red planet, sending chunks hurtling through space. Some of the debris has moved fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of Mars and eventually fall to Earth.
Astronomers think millions of years ago something big smashed into Mars and sent rocks hurtling through the solar system. After a long journey through space, one of those rocks plunged through Earth's atmosphere, breaking into smaller pieces.
Most other Martian meteorite samples sat around on Earth for millions of years - or at the very least, decades - before they were discovered, which makes them tainted with Earth materials and life. These new rocks, while still probably contaminated because they have been on Earth for months, are purer.Arizona State University’s (ASU) Center for Meteorite Studies has acquired a significant new sample for its collection: a rare martian meteorite that fell in southern Morocco in July 2011.
Since the observed fall of the famed Ensisheim meteorite in 1492, there have been 1,200 recovered meteorite falls. A “fall” is a meteorite that was witnessed by someone as it fell from the sky, whereas a “find” is a meteorite that was not observed to fall but was later found and collected. Only a handful of witnessed meteorite falls occur each year.
“Martian falls are extremely rare,” said Laurence Garvie, collection manager for the center. “Less than 0.5% of falls are martians. This new sample is probably one of our most prized pieces and, without a doubt, one of the most significant additions to our collection in several decades.”
To date, nearly 7 kilograms of stones have been collected from last summer’s martian meteorite fall in Morocco. The 349 gram sample the center received is one of the largest from the fall, and it is by far the center’s largest martian meteorite.
“As far as I am aware, this stone is currently the largest one from this fall in any research collection at a museum or university in the U.S.,” said Meenakshi “Mini” Wadhwa, director of the center and a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Sources:
mirror.co.uk
Astrobiology
The Raw Story
News.com.au
dailymail
floridatoday.com
Tengrinews.kz
The Washington Post
CBC News
dailystar
Astronomers think millions of years ago something big smashed into Mars and sent rocks hurtling through the solar system. After a long journey through space, one of those rocks plunged through Earth's atmosphere, breaking into smaller pieces.
Most other Martian meteorite samples sat around on Earth for millions of years - or at the very least, decades - before they were discovered, which makes them tainted with Earth materials and life. These new rocks, while still probably contaminated because they have been on Earth for months, are purer.Arizona State University’s (ASU) Center for Meteorite Studies has acquired a significant new sample for its collection: a rare martian meteorite that fell in southern Morocco in July 2011.
Since the observed fall of the famed Ensisheim meteorite in 1492, there have been 1,200 recovered meteorite falls. A “fall” is a meteorite that was witnessed by someone as it fell from the sky, whereas a “find” is a meteorite that was not observed to fall but was later found and collected. Only a handful of witnessed meteorite falls occur each year.
“Martian falls are extremely rare,” said Laurence Garvie, collection manager for the center. “Less than 0.5% of falls are martians. This new sample is probably one of our most prized pieces and, without a doubt, one of the most significant additions to our collection in several decades.”
To date, nearly 7 kilograms of stones have been collected from last summer’s martian meteorite fall in Morocco. The 349 gram sample the center received is one of the largest from the fall, and it is by far the center’s largest martian meteorite.
“As far as I am aware, this stone is currently the largest one from this fall in any research collection at a museum or university in the U.S.,” said Meenakshi “Mini” Wadhwa, director of the center and a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Sources:
mirror.co.uk
Astrobiology
The Raw Story
News.com.au
dailymail
floridatoday.com
Tengrinews.kz
The Washington Post
CBC News
dailystar
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