Latest Chondrite Stories

John P. Millis, Ph.D. for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Prior to the Apollo Moon missions, scientists conjectured that the Moon would be extremely dry, that even below the surface of the Magnificent Desolation little or no water would be present. But the rocks brought back by the lunar explorers revealed that the Moon, while still dry compared to Earth, contained a surprising amount of water. Furthermore, the composition of the Moon led scientists to the current Big Impact...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online A stone originally discovered last year in Southern Morocco has been identified as a rare type of meteorite known as an achondrite, though its exact origin remains a mystery, according to experts from Washington University of St. Louis (WUSTL). The stone was one of 35 green-colored pieces discovered in early 2012. It was purchased by a dealer in the town of Erfound and then later resold to a German meteorite collector known as...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The Earth’s core formed under more oxidizing conditions than previously believed, claims a new study published in Thursday’s edition of the journal Science Express. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) geophysicist Rick Ryerson and an international team of colleagues made the discovery following a series of laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments at high pressure (350,000 to 700,000 atmospheres) and temperatures...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A meteorite study has led scientists to believe that asteroid surfaces may be more complex than previously thought. Scientists from around the world have come together to work on a meteor analysis of the Sutter's Mill meteorite that fell down to Earth in April 2012. The scientists reported in the journal Science that this particular meteor is an unusual example from a rare group known as carbonaceous chondrites. Samples from this...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online New research suggests that meteorites, and their parent asteroids, are most-likely the sources of Earth's water. Scientists have believed that comets, or a primitive meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites, were the sources of earth Earth's volatile elements, including hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. Having an understanding of where these volatiles came from is crucial when determining the source of water and life on the planet....

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com A previously unknown mineral has been found in a meteorite that fell to Earth in 1969, according to a Caltech geologist who has been studying the meteoric sample since 2007, and who has also found eight other new minerals in the sample. The Allende meteorite was among thousands of meteorites that lay scattered about the state of Chihuahua, in Mexico, after a meteor exploded over the region in 1969. More than 40 years later, the meteorite is providing...

[ Watch the Video ] New observations indicate that the asteroid Lutetia is a leftover fragment of the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury. Astronomers have combined data from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft, ESO’s New Technology Telescope, and NASA telescopes. They found that the properties of the asteroid closely match those of a rare kind of meteorites found on Earth and thought to have formed in the inner parts of the Solar System. Lutetia must, at some point,...

  Japanese scientists have determined that the most common meteorites found on Earth are born from stony asteroids. The Earth-bound asteroids, also known as ordinary chondrites, are among the most primitive objects in the solar system.  The researchers said that the discovery means these asteroids have been recording a long and rich history of early solar system events. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Hayabusa spacecraft in 2003 to sample the surface of an...

A new isotopic analysis of meteorites that have been in storage on Earth for quite some time points to a very reasonable scientific conclusion that Mars once had sea beds that were warm, wet and rich in organic chemicals.Dr. John Brandenburg, a former scientist at the Florida Space Institute-University of Central Florida, Kennedy Space Center, says that the meteorites he analyzed, come from rocks in the southern hemisphere of part of Mars.  The rocks are 4.5 Billion years old, the same age...

The earliest rocks in our solar system were more like candy floss than the hard rock that we know today, according to research published today in the journal Nature GeoscienceThe earliest rocks in our Solar System were more like candy floss than the hard rock that we know today, according to research published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.The work, by researchers from Imperial College London and other international institutions, provides the first geological evidence to support...