Rare UK meteorite may contain “building blocks of life”
Recommended for Middle Grades
On 28 February 2021, an amazing meteor (or “shooting star”) lit up the night sky over the United Kingdom and Northern Europe.
A piece of the meteorite was found on a driveway of a house in England. It marks the first piece of space rock discovered in the UK in 30 years. It has been nicknamed the “Winchcombe meteorite“, for the town where it landed.
What is special about this meteorite?
This space rock has turned out to be extremely old and rare. It’s made of carbonaceous chondrite. This is a stony material that is considered to be the “left-over building blocks” from when our solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago. It can help us understand how a planet with life (like Earth) was formed.
Overall, about 300-400 grams of material fell around the area. The pieces are small and marble-sized.
This meteorite was tracked via cameras on entry to Earth’s atmosphere. It came from the outer asteroid belt, near Jupiter.
New footage of the #fireball tonight. Sent by Katie Parr pic.twitter.com/J4jmsM9tFj
— UK Meteor Network (@UKMeteorNetwork) February 28, 2021
There are so many interesting and exciting things happening in the world today. To keep yourself updated do not miss out on reading Curious Times – a news website for children. We engage and educate kids through news, information and trivia. There are also a lot of exciting activities for children to engage in and express themselves. You can share your comments and views Participate in our regular quizzes and various creative challenges. We are also delighted to publish what children send to us in My Expressions. These could be art and creative projects, their thoughts on global issues, their views in form of drawings, paintings, photographs and write-ups and also books, games or movie reviews.
All the great content from the kids finds its way to our Newspaper Curious Times Weekly and The Curious Magazine, You can also reach out to us on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook. Youtube, Twitter, Linked In, Or write to us at hello@curioustimes.in.
0 (Please login to give a Curious Clap to your friend.)