
Space rock monster. One of the largest meteorites in 100 years found in Antarctica (photo)
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Despite the ideal conditions on the icy continent for the preservation of meteorites, large stones are rarely found. But this time they found as many as 5 pieces.
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Over the past 100 years, about 45,000 meteorites of various sizes have been discovered in Antarctica. These dark space rocks stand out well against the white icy landscape. Also, the climate of Antarctica contributes to the fact that meteorites practically do not collapse over time. And even if they sink into the ice, they still come out after a while due to the movement of glaciers. Despite the ideal conditions on the icy continent for the preservation of meteorites, large stones are rarely found here. But this time, scientists were lucky to find one of the largest space rocks in the last 100 years, writes ScienceAlert.
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An international team of scientists recently returned from an expedition to Antarctica and brought back their incredible find. They found as many as 5 meteorites, among which one stood out for its large size. This meteorite weighs 7.6 kg and thus is among the top 100 large meteorites that have been discovered on the icy continent over the past 100 years. Considering the fact that in just a century about 45 thousand different meteorites were found here, this find is really impressive.
According to Maria Vaddes from the Museum of Natural History. Field, Chicago, USA, in the case of meteorites, size often does not matter. After all, even the smallest micrometeorites are of great value for science.
“We have to admit that finding such a large meteorite is a great success, because they are discovered very rarely. Therefore, this is a very important find,” says Valdez.< /p>
Although meteorites are easier to find in Antarctica than on any other continent, the journey itself is not very easy. The cold temperatures and the need to travel long distances make such a hike less than a jolly walk, scientists say.
To discover 5 new meteorites, scientists used a map that was created with using images from space satellites. Potential places where meteorites can be found have been marked on this map.
“On the satellite images, everything looked very beautiful and it seemed that finding meteorites would be easy. But the reality was very different from the beauty of the satellite images,” says Vincian Dibeil from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
Focus< /em> has already written in detail about a map that shows the locations of meteorites in Antarctica. It is said to be 80% accurate in terms of the directions it shows. By the way, scientists believe that there are more than 300 thousand meteorites of various sizes in Antarctica and they have yet to be found.
All the meteorites found, including the space monster rock, have already been delivered for study to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
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According to Valdez, the study of meteorites provides an opportunity to better understand the evolution of our solar system, and perhaps in the new stones that scientists have discovered, there may be clues to uncover the mysteries of space.
Focus already wrote that the meteorite that fell in Canada disproved theorizes the origin of the solar system. Scientists have found that the meteorite has a composition that does not match the theories.