The meteorite that fell inside Goiás is as old as Solar system that is, it is 4.56 billion years old, according to the researcher at the Geosciences Institute of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Amanda Araujo Tosi, who analyzed the rock.
The play fell in Portelândia on the 17th of July. At the time, the ordinary chondrite-type meteorite, weighing approximately 250g, was found on a farm in the municipality after damaging the lining of a property during the fall.
“The chondrite-type meteorites are meteorites that come from asteroids that have had their composition practically intact since their formation, which was when the Solar System began to form. Thus, they are the most primitive types of meteorites that exist and are as old as our Solar System, 4.56 billion years”, explains Amanda.
Ordinary chondrite meteorites are the most common that fall to Earth, however, it is difficult to witness a fall of them, since “statistically, most [dos meteoritos] they fall into the vast bodies of water on the planet; falling into an inhabited area is extremely rare, falling into a house even more so”, says the technician from the Physics Laboratory of the Federal University of Jataí (UFJ), Thiago Lima, who also analyzed the meteorite.
Meteorites and the rare rock trade
For the two academics, the Portelândia Meteorite, as it became known, has great scientific value. That’s because he is only the ninth recovered in Brazil in the last 12 years.
“As they are rocks from the primordial Solar System, they are of inestimable scientific value because they bring us information on the composition of these ‘building bricks’ of the planets, which have wandered for billions of years, since the explosion of the star that gave rise to our planetary system”, says Lima.
Because meteorites are an exotic find, some people try to sell them, however, for Amanda, a law should regulate the ownership and trade of Brazilian meteorites, so that there is no loss of heritage and, consequently, damage to science.
Search
Currently, the meteorite is being researched by the Physics course at UFJ in partnership with Meteoríticas at UFRJ so that, later, the study information is sent to The Meteoritical Bulletin Database committee.
The idea, according to the researchers, is to register it in the Brazilian meteorite catalog, officially, as the Portelândia Meteorite.
*Under the guidance of Bárbara Brambila
Source: CNN Brasil
