Meteorite

Antarctica Got Blasted by a Powerful ‘Airburst’ Event 430,000 Years Ago

Asteroids that smash directly into Earth’s surface can cause extensive damage, but, as new evidence uncovered in east Antarctica suggests, asteroids that explode on entry can be equally devastating. Super tiny black balls made from igneous rock are evidence of a calamitous event in the Sør Rondane Mountains of Antarctica some 430,000 years ago, according…

Earth Science Mar 31

Recovery of Rare Meteorite a ‘Dream Come True’ for UK Scientists

A chunk of black rock dating back to the earliest days of the solar system has fallen onto a residential driveway in the UK. Late last month, a rock weighing around 10.6 ounces (300 grams) pinged onto a driveway belonging to Rob and Cathryn Wilcock, who live in the small town of Winchcombe, UK. “When…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Mar 9

Meteorites From the Beginning of the Solar System May Have Carried Water Quite Recently

Meteorites that formed in the earliest days of the solar system may contain liquid water, according to new research, lending credence to the theory that meteorites brought water and other precursors for life to our planet billions of years ago. Carbonaceous chondrites are a special group of meteorites that trace their origins back to the…

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Jan 9

A Piece of the Famous Meteorite That Nailed a Person Has Just Been Sold

The only thing worse than getting struck by lightning or a large, flying bird is getting struck by a meteorite. Thankfully, the chances of this happening to you are incredibly low—according to National Geographic, there is only one confirmed case of a meteorite striking a person. So perhaps it’s no surprise that a piece of…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta May 10

The Many Times Humans Have Almost Been Killed By Meteorites [Updated]

On Saturday, a luckless bus driver died in a mysterious explosion in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. His death took on added significance when local officials declared that the man was killed by a meteorite. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is working to confirm that claim. But if true, it marks the first…

Tech News Maddie Stone Feb 9

This Lovely Claymation Video Will Help You Make Sense of Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites

What’s better than a stop motion explainer on asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites? Nothing. Nothing is better. The Royal Observatory Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian where longitude is defined to be 0°, is tackling space rocks in this most adorable claymation-style animation. From the composition of asteroids and comets to distinguishing between meteors and…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon Oct 8

What Caused This Crater In Nicaragua?

Reports are quickly spreading of a “meteorite impact” near Managua, Nicaragua. Circumstantial evidence supports the impact theory, but just as equally supports an explosives mishap from the nearby military base. Here’s what we know, and what we need to know to tell the difference. Is this an impact crater? Image credit: AP/Nicaraguan Army A loud…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Sep 8

Unraveling Billions of Years of History Hidden In A Rock

On October 17th, 2012, a meteorite crashed into the roof of a Novato, California home. Now, an international collaboration of fifty scientists have tracked its history over 4.4 billion years, from before the moon was formed to the present day. Timeseries of the disintegration of the Novato meteorite on October 17, 2012. Image credit: Robert…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Aug 16

This Fireworks Show Is a 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Exploding

Back in October 2012, a meteorite whizzed through our atmosphere and broke up in a dazzling display over California. One particular fragment, embedded in the roof of a house, was recovered by NASA for study. Now NASA is ready to reveal a bit more about the meteorite, which was likely formed in the same collision…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang Aug 15

Scientists Discover an Entirely New Kind of Meteorite

At a pink limestone quarry in Sweden, finding meteorite is no big deal—workers have found 101 of them in the past 20 years. But a new space rock discovery has scientists scratching their heads. The meteorite is of a class that’s never before been seen, and it may hold a key to the explosion of…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang Jul 1

Another Fireball Meteor Has Been Caught on Camera Over Russia

Late last night, a suspected meteor tore through the skies over the northern Russian city of Murmansk. Some dashcams supposedly caught the fireball on film, but we can’t help wondering if this footage is actually real. Here’s what we know: Russia Today is reporting that most observers identified the blaze of light as a meteor,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Apr 19

Tiny tunnels in meteorite whisper about the history of Mars

Peeking inside an ancient Martian meteorite explores the history of the red planet. Analysis of trapped gas bubbles confirm its origin, while tunnel-structures within the clay are similar to the textures we see created by bacteria wriggling around in Earth-rocks. While the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers continue to explore Mars as robotic geologists, taking photographs,…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 2

Some 2014 Olympic Gold Medals Will Have a Russian Meteorite In Them

Winning a gold medal is one of the highest achievements in sports, the beautiful round medallion rewards years of hard work and confirms an athlete’s status as the very best. Russia is going to sweeten the deal a bit in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (no, they’re not wrapping chocolate inside), with extra medals that…

Tech News Casey Chan Jul 25

Holy crap the inside of this meteorite is gorgeous

Most people know perfectly well that rocks minerals can look incredible on the inside – but this cross-sectional view of a meteorite still caught us by surprise. The space rock pictured above is a chunk of the Alvord Meteorite, discovered in Iowa in 1976. The criss-crossing, internal structure seen here is known as the Widmanstätten…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez May 20

An interactive animation of every recorded meteorite impact in history

Say hello to your new favorite time-suck. (Pew pew pew!) It’s called Bolides. Its creator, datavisualization designer Carlo Zapponi, calles Bolides “an attempt to visualize and explore the meteorites that have collided with the Earth.” The visualization focuses primarily on “fell” meteorites – i.e. meteorites that were observed by people or automated devices during their…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez May 8

This bizarre meteorite may be first ever discovered from Mercury

It was found last year in Morocco, but scientists now say this strange, green rock likely originated on our solar system’s innermost planet. The announcement was made earlier this month by meteorite expert Anthony Irving at the 44th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. According to him, the pea-green space rock…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 31

A Meteor Streaked Across the East Coast of the United States and No One Has a Damn Picture Of It Yet

At around 8 o’clock tonight, a meteor that’s been described as “huuuuge green” and “very bright” and “blueish” and “glowing green” and “pretty big” and “very slow and bright green” was spotted across the east coast of the United States from NYC to DC to Baltimore to West Virginia to Boston and basically any big…

Tech News Casey Chan Mar 22

Meteorite discovered in Antarctica — what could go wrong?

The International Polar Foundation (IPF) has just posted a fantastic series of pictures of a joint Belgian-Japanese research team discovering a fairly hefty meteorite near their research camp. The meteorite is about 18 kg and was discovered in the Nansen Ice Field, 140 km south of Princess Elisabeth, a zero-emissions research station in Antarctica. This…

io9 Annalee Newitz Mar 5

What’s the difference between a comet, asteroid, meteor, meteoroid and meteorite?

With all the recent buzz over asteroid AD14, the meteor over Chelyabinsk, the fragments of meteorite recovered in Russia’s Ural mountains, and yesterday’s news that the fireball originated from our solar system’s asteroid belt, one can’t help but wonder: what’s the difference between all these -oids, -ors and -ites? Are they all just different words…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 27

Scientists Figured Out Where That Russian Meteor Came From

On February 15th, a meteor shook Russia as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere above the Urals. Now, scientists believe they know where in the universe it came from. https://gizmodo.com/meteorite-explodes-over-russia-panic-spreads-5984476 Using as much data they could lay their hands on—from extensive dash-cam coverage, to CCTV footage, to a lucky observation made by the Meteosat-9 weather satellite—Jorge…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Feb 27

Antarctica Got Blasted by a Powerful ‘Airburst’ Event 430,000 Years Ago

Recovery of Rare Meteorite a ‘Dream Come True’ for UK Scientists

Meteorites From the Beginning of the Solar System May Have Carried Water Quite Recently

A Piece of the Famous Meteorite That Nailed a Person Has Just Been Sold

The Many Times Humans Have Almost Been Killed By Meteorites [Updated]

This Lovely Claymation Video Will Help You Make Sense of Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites

What Caused This Crater In Nicaragua?

Unraveling Billions of Years of History Hidden In A Rock

This Fireworks Show Is a 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Exploding

Scientists Discover an Entirely New Kind of Meteorite

Another Fireball Meteor Has Been Caught on Camera Over Russia

Tiny tunnels in meteorite whisper about the history of Mars

Some 2014 Olympic Gold Medals Will Have a Russian Meteorite In Them

Holy crap the inside of this meteorite is gorgeous

An interactive animation of every recorded meteorite impact in history

This bizarre meteorite may be first ever discovered from Mercury

A Meteor Streaked Across the East Coast of the United States and No One Has a Damn Picture Of It Yet

Meteorite discovered in Antarctica — what could go wrong?

What’s the difference between a comet, asteroid, meteor, meteoroid and meteorite?

Scientists Figured Out Where That Russian Meteor Came From

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