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Meteorite in Peru Provides Surprises
A meteorite slammed into Peru last September. That's big news because it is changing the way scientists are thinking about these rocks from space. Normally, when a space rock enters Earth's atmosphere, it never reaches the ground. That's because meteorites move so fast, that the atmosphere creates friction as the rock moves through it. It doesn't take long before the meteorite gets so hot it breaks up and burns away. Only small meteorites containing iron have held together and struck earth.
At least that's what scientists thought. The meteorite that landed in Peru had no iron in it. Even so, it held together and hit the ground so hard that it made a 49-foot wide crater in the mud. It was moving at over 15,000 miles per hour. That's 50 times faster than scientists thought meteorites could travel. They're not sure why it was moving so quickly. To find out, they went to Peru to check out what was left of the meteorite. They pulled two gray chunks of rock from the ground.
It may be that forces acting around the fast-flying meteor held it together in spite of its incredible speed. If that is true, it's possible that similar meteorites may have created lakes and ponds on Earth. So this rare event may provide important clues about how things form here on earth.
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in Science this week!
Photo: AP
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