Asteroid that fell in Germany ‘extremely rare’, as old as solar system: Scientists

Scientists have confirmed that an asteroid that exploded over Germany on January 21 is a rare spacerock type that can help shed light on the origins of Earth. The fragments of the asteroid 2024 BX1 were discovered just five days later and were analysed by a group of scientistswho concluded that it belongs to a rare group called aubrites.

Peter Jenniskens, who was part of the team that recovered the fragments, was quoted by Space.com as saying that there had been only 11 known examples of aubrite meteorite falling on Earth in the past. The rare family is believed to represent just 1 per cent of known meteorites.

What makes aubrite meteorites different?

The aubrite meteorites stand out due to their unique characteristics. Unlike typical meteorites, they possess a translucent glass crust instead of a thick black one, and they exhibit a grey granite-like appearance, initially causing difficulty in distinguishing them from ordinary Earth rocks.

"The interesting thing about this fall is, we have a very nice orbit of it, and so the shape of the orbit itself contains clues as to where the source region for these meteorites was," Jenniskens said.

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"They likely came from the inner side of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That's a place where probably there is a lot of debris, a collision that created a lot of smaller pieces called an asteroid family," he added.

Why it is significant?

Jenniskens and colleagues from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin conducted the first analysis of one of these meteorite fragments using an electron beam microprobe. Their findings revealed that these meteorites share the typical mineralogy and chemical composition of aubrite-type rocks.

Originating from main belt asteroids like 2024 BX1, these meteorites date back approximately 4.5 billion years, coinciding with the formation of the solar system planets. They formed from material surrounding the young sun that remained after the planet formation process.

Due to their lack of alteration by geological processes, aubrite meteorites provide scientists with valuable insights into the primordial materials that shaped the inner rocky planets of the solar system, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth.

Jenniskens also noted that aubrites, like these meteorites, exhibit properties remarkably similar to those of Earth, such as water content and chemical ratios. This similarity offers researchers a unique opportunity to study the materials involved in the formation of our planet billions of years ago.

(With inputs from agencies)