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Topic Last Updated on 09-07-2024
GET TO KNOW OUR GUESTS FROM SPACE
Meteorite time!
Comet — A small body of dust and frozen gases that orbits the Sun. When approaching the Sun, the substance of the comet heats up, and the ice in its composition turns into gas and forms a tail. Sometimes comets pass close enough to our planet to be seen without falling to the Earth’s surface.
Asteroid — A large body more than 10 m (32.8 ft) in diameter that moves in orbit around the Sun.
Meteoroid — A small body measuring from a tiny grain of sand to 10 m (32.8 ft) in diameter.
Hoba
Discovered: in 1920
Location: Namibia
The Hoba meteorite is the largest meteorite ever found, and at the same time the largest piece of natural iron on the planet’s surface. It came to Earth about 80,000 years ago, but it was discovered relatively recently. The meteorite was found lying on the territory of the Hoba West farm, and the owner himself came across it. It was an amazing coincidence: in the language of one of the peoples of Namibia, “Hoba” means “gift,” and this was the farm’s name long before the discovery of the space gift! A hundred years ago, the meteorite weighed 72.7 t, but by 1955 it had “slimmed down” to 66 t. The blame falls on all of the tourists who wanted to chip off a piece of the extraterrestrial nugget as a souvenir. Hoba is now under the protection of the government of Namibia.
Tunguska
Discovered: in 1908
Location: Russia
АLH 84001
Discovered: in 1984
Location: Antarctica
This meteorite with a boring name gained worldwide fame in 1996. NASA scientists found fossilized structures in the rock that look like traces of bacteria. However, the traces were so microscopic that it couldn’t be determined for sure, and it hasn’t been proven that life originated in the rock before its collision with the Earth. So, where did the meteor with the sensational contents come from? Mars! Scientists were able to prove this with the help of radiocarbon dating. The stone broke off about four billion years ago from its native red planet, and it fell in Antarctica merely 13,000 years ago. The meteorite’s mass is only 4.2 lb.
Sikhote-Alin
Discovered: in 1947
Location: Russia
This is another very large meteorite, weighing dozens of tons, which did not reach the surface of the Earth but collapsed when entering the atmosphere. A bright meteor flash was visible from a radius of 250 mi! Fragments of the iron nugget formed a meteor shower, which literally broke the earth into multi-meter-wide craters upon landing. Several thousand fragments were found, many of them weighing thousands of pounds. The mass of the largest fragment is 3847 lb. How much did the original meteorite weigh? At least 25 t. Scientists, though, are constantly recalculating and even believe that the true value may have been several times greater.
