Achi news desk-
Researchers said that in its early days the meteorite was a dry rock carrying ice but over millions of years the ice melted into a ball of mud which was repeatedly broken up and reassembled.
Findings suggest that it was formed from chunks of other rocks cemented together – like broken pieces of multiple jigsaws mashed together – in what is known as breccia.
Dr Luke Daly, from the University of Glasgow, who led the research, said: “We were fascinated to discover how fragmented the breccia was in the Winchcombe sample we analysed.
“If you imagine the Winchcombe meteorite as a jigsaw puzzle, what we saw in the analysis was that each of the jigsaw pieces themselves had also been broken into smaller pieces, and then mixed in a bag filled with pieces of seven other jigsaws.
“However, what we have discovered in trying to unravel the jigsaw through our analyzes is a new insight into the very fine details of how the rock was altered by water in space.
“It also gives us a clearer idea of how it must have been battered by impacts and reformed repeatedly during its lifetime since it swirled together out of the solar nebula (cloud massive interstellar that gave birth to the Solar System), billions of years ago.”
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The Winchcombe meteorite is the first to be found on UK soil for 30 years.
The rock was first discovered on a driveway in February 2021 after it was seen as a fireball streaking across the sky.
This specimen was found a few hours after it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
More fragments were found in a sheep field a few days later.
The Winchcombe meteorite belongs to a rare class of rocks known as carbonaceous chondrites.
They make up about 3% of all meteorites collected on Earth and are believed to contain unchanged chemicals from the formation of the Solar System more than four billion years ago.
Analyzing those minerals could help scientists find the answers to questions such as how did the Solar System evolve and how did the Earth get its water?
A team of international researchers collaborated on the study, which is published in the journal Meteoritics And Planetary Science.
They analyzed mineral grains in the fragments of the Winchcombe meteorite using cutting edge technology.
Dr Martin Suttle, from the Open University, said: “Each grain is a tiny time capsule which, together, helps us to build an incredibly clear view of the formation, reformation and change that took place over millions of years .”
The team said they discovered that all types of rock in the sample were altered to varying degrees due to the presence of water.
This was not only between the rock types but also within them, the scientists added.
The researchers said their analysis also indicated that the meteorite was “more carbon-rich than previously thought” due to an “unexpectedly high” proportion of carbonate minerals.
Dr Diane Johnson, from Cranfield University, co-author of the paper, added: “Research like this helps us understand the earliest part of our Solar System’s formation in a way that is not possible without detailed analysis of materials that are right there in space as it happened.
“The Winchcombe meteorite is an extraordinary piece of space history and I am proud to have been part of the team that has helped tell this new story.”
