Article 5GYRS Asteroid’s 22m-year journey from source to Earth mapped in historic first

Asteroid’s 22m-year journey from source to Earth mapped in historic first

by
Ian Sample Science editor
from on (#5GYRS)

Flight path of Kalahari's six-tonne asteroid is first tracing of meteorite shedding rock to solar system origin

Astronomers have reconstructed the 22m-year-long voyage of an asteroid that hurtled through the solar system and exploded over Botswana, showering meteorites across the Kalahari desert.

It is the first time scientists have traced showering space rock to its source - in this case Vesta, one of largest bodies in the asteroid belt that circles the sun between Jupiter and Mars.

Continue reading...
External Content
Source RSS or Atom Feed
Feed Location http://feeds.theguardian.com/theguardian/science/rss
Feed Title
Feed Link http://feeds.theguardian.com/
Reply 0 comments