Aided by satellite data, the team led by Belgian scientists collected five meteorites in the middle of Antarctica. One of them is one of the heaviest taken on the continent.
A particularly imposing rock. A team led by Belgian scientists collected a 7.6kg meteorite in Antarctica on Monday using data from the European Copernicus satellite, shared the European Space Agency (ESA)relayed by Numerama. The discoveries of celestial pebbles are not rare in the region but the mass of this one is particularly remarkable.
“This is one of the heaviest meteorites ever found on the continent,” said the ESA in particular.
Only “a hundred” of the 45,000 meteorites collected on the continent over the last hundred years weighed at least 7.6 kg, the agency still indicates. The team of scientists was also able to collect four other smaller rocks on site, after a three-hour snowmobile journey in “biting winds and freezing temperatures”. The scientists provided ESA with a photo showing their joy at the discovery.
All these rocks have been transferred to Brussels and are currently being studied at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. These analyzes will be used to “help scientists study the solar system and the processes that take place in it”, indicates the ESA.
A continent conducive to the discovery of meteorites
Antarctica is a particularly interesting land for meteorite hunters. The continent has indeed a “dry environment” which “limits the degree of weathering of meteorites” according to the researchers.
Another element: the contrast between the colored meteorites and the ground, white or bluish depending on the location, which makes it easier to spot them than in an environment with a more varied composition.
Some so-called “blue ice” areas, located at the foot of mountainous relief where the winds are concentrated, are so beaten by the winds that the snow does not stagnate there, leaving the ground frozen and the meteorites which are directly exposed there. seen by scientists.
In addition, the ice flows that descend along these heights carry the meteorites that have fallen higher up towards these open areas.