Meteorite could hold solar clues
June 26, 2008 – 10:03 pmA rare type of meteorite that could hold clues to the birth of our Solar System has been bought by London’s Natural History Museum.
The chemistry in the Ivuna meteorite is thought to contain information about the conditions that gave rise to the Sun and planets 4.5 billion years ago.
It landed in Tanzania in 1938 as one 705g stone, since split into samples.
Pieces from the UK sample, the largest in any public collection in the world, will be removed for study.
Most Ivuna samples are held in private collections, or by the Tanzanian government.
It is a so-called carbonaceous chondrite. It contains dust granules that may have been part of the cloud of material that came together to form our Solar System.
Unlike most rock found in our stellar neighbourhood, it has not been altered by major heating sometime in its history and, as such, gives researchers a remarkable view on the past.
Dr Caroline Smith, meteorite curator at the Natural History Museum (NHM), told BBC News: “These types of meteorite are very susceptible to alteration on Earth. Changes in humidity, for example, can change their composition.
“But this meteorite is important as it fell relatively recently and has been kept under nitrogen in a sealed environment for the last two or three decades.
