Winchcombe meteorite bolsters Earth water theory - BBC

A meteorite that crashed connected the Gloucestershire municipality of Winchcombe past twelvemonth contained h2o that was a near-perfect lucifer for that connected Earth.

This bolsters the thought rocks from abstraction brought cardinal chemic components, including water, to the satellite aboriginal successful its history, billions of years ago.

The meteorite is regarded arsenic the astir important recovered successful the UK.

More than 500g (1lb) of blackened debris was picked up from people's gardens and driveways and section fields, aft a elephantine fireball lit up the nighttime sky.

The crumbly remains were cautiously catalogued astatine London's Natural History Museum (NHM) and past loaned to teams crossed Europe to investigate.

Water accounted for up to 11% of the meteorite's value - and it contained a precise akin ratio of hydrogen atoms to the h2o connected Earth.

Some scientists accidental the young Earth was truthful blistery it would person driven disconnected overmuch of its volatile content, including water.

For the Earth to person truthful overmuch contiguous - 70% of its aboveground is covered by water - suggests determination indispensable person been a aboriginal addition.

Some accidental this could person travel from a bombardment of icy comets - but their chemistry is not a large match.

Carbonaceous chondrites, nevertheless - meteorites specified arsenic the Winchcombe 1 - astir surely are.

And the information it was recovered little than 12 hours aft crashing means it had absorbed precise small earthly water, oregon so immoderate contaminants.

"All different meteorites person been compromised successful immoderate mode by the terrestrial environment," co-first writer Dr Ashley King, from the NHM, told BBC News.

"But Winchcombe is antithetic due to the fact that of the velocity with which it was picked up.

"This means erstwhile we measurement it, we cognize the creation we're looking astatine takes america each the mode backmost to the creation astatine the opening of the Solar System, 4.6 cardinal years ago.

"Bar fetching stone samples backmost from an asteroid with a spacecraft, we could not person a much pristine specimen."

Scientists examining the meteorite's carbon- and nitrogen-bearing integrated compounds, including its amino acids, had a likewise cleanable picture.

This is the benignant of chemistry that could person been a feedstock for biology to statesman connected the aboriginal Earth.

The caller investigation besides confirms the meteorite's origin.

Camera footage of the fireball has allowed researchers to enactment retired a precise precise trajectory.

Calculating backwards, this indicates the meteorite came from the outer asteroid loop betwixt Mars and Jupiter.

Further investigations uncover it was knocked disconnected the apical fewer metres of a genitor asteroid, presumably successful immoderate collision.

It past took lone 200,000 to 300,000 years to get connected Earth, the fig of peculiar atoms, specified arsenic neon, created successful the meteorite worldly done the changeless irradiation from high-speed abstraction particles, oregon cosmic rays, reveals.

"0.2-0.3 cardinal years sounds similar rather a agelong clip - but from a geological perspective, it's really precise quick," Dr Helena Bates, from the NHM, said.

"Carbonaceous chondrites person to get present rapidly oregon they won't survive, due to the fact that they're truthful crumbly, truthful friable, they'll conscionable interruption apart."

The scientists archetypal analysis, successful this week's variation of the Science Advances journal, is conscionable an overview of Winchcombe's properties.

A twelve much papers connected specializer topics are owed to travel retired soon successful an contented of the Meteoritics & Planetary Science journal.

And adjacent they volition not beryllium the past word.

"Researchers volition proceed to enactment connected this specimen for years to come, unlocking much secrets into the origins of our Solar System," co-first writer Dr Luke Daly, from the University of Glasgow, said.