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A meteorite that stunned the world when it exploded in the sky and crashed into frozen Lake Michigan on January 16, 2018 has been analyzed by scientists.
The six-foot-wide rock fragmented and lit up the sky as it traveled at 30,000 miles an hour, with footage of the event going viral around the world.
The fragments were quickly tracked down and delivered to scientists who now know it contains some of the key ingredients for creating life.
So-called “organic compounds” have been found and these carbon-containing molecules are the backbone of amino acids, fats, DNA and other biological materials.
The discovery of these raw materials on a space rock means that billions of years ago a larger, but similar, meteorite landed on Earth and carried these organic compounds with it, allowing life to thrive.
Security camera footage of fireball in the sky above Toledo, Ohio. The six-foot-wide rock shattered and illuminated the sky as it traveled at 30,000 miles per hour
The meteorite fragment that fell on Strawberry Lake that contains pristine extraterrestrial organic compounds
Philipp Heck, curator of the Field Museum in Chicago, who conducted the analysis on the rock, says, “These types of organic compounds were likely delivered to the early Earth by meteorites and may have contributed to the ingredients of life.”
Although scientists know that carbon-based compounds were instrumental in the development of life on Earth, their origins remain a mystery.
Some theories claim that they were erupted from the depths of the Earth, while others dispute that they probably landed on our planet from another world via meteorites.
The rock is not meant to contain life itself, but materials that – given the right conditions – could create life.
Scientists benefited from public fury following the event, as it meant that the rock fragments were quickly tracked down and recovered.
This ensured they remained relatively clean and pristine from the microbe-rich dirt of the Earth, allowing for a more faithful picture of the meteorite’s contents.
“This meteorite is special because it fell on a frozen lake and was quickly recovered. It was very pristine, ”says Dr. Heck.
“We could see that the minerals weren’t much altered and we later found that they contained a rich inventory of extraterrestrial organic compounds.”
Meteorite hunter Robert Ward with the meteorite on Strawberry Lake near Hamburg, Michigan
A piece of the meteorite sits on a display during a press conference, Friday, January 19, 2018, at the Longway Planetarium in Flint, Michigan. Scientists now know that it contains organic compounds
Astronomer Todd Slisher opens a sheet of tinfoil to reveal a piece of the meteorite during the 2018 press conference
The rock flared bright as it burned in Earth’s atmosphere and cracked, but it was large enough that many of its pieces remained intact when they landed.
The smaller meteors completely disintegrate until there is nothing left as they approach the Earth’s surface.
But the 2018 chunks of rock were so large that they could be tracked by the weather systems normally used to predict and track rain and hail.
“The weather radar helped show the meteorite’s position and speed. This means we were able to find it very quickly,” says Dr. Heck.
Within two days an avid meteor hunter, Robert Ward, had tracked the first piece on the frozen surface of Strawberry Lake, near Hamburg, Michigan, and entrusted it to the Chicago Field Museum.
The short period of time it takes to find the rock offers an invaluable research opportunity.
“Because there was so much excitement surrounding it, everyone wanted to apply their own technique, so we have an unusually complete dataset for a single meteorite,” says Ms Jennika Greer, research co-author and scientist at the University. of Chicago.
Research has found that apart from the cacophony of organic compounds, the rock is a rare form of meteorite, called the H4 chondrite.
The results are published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
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