(ORDO NEWS) — In 2015, David Hole was conducting searches in the Maryborough Regional Park near Melbourne, Australia.
With the help of a metal detector, he discovered something unusual – a very heavy stone of a reddish hue. What does this meteorite that fell in Australia look like and what are its characteristics? You will learn about this by reading our material.
Howl brought it home and tried everything to open the stone. He was sure that there were golden particles inside. After all, Maryborough is in the Goldfields area, where the Australian gold rush reached its peak in the 19th century. Hole did not think about the meteorites of Australia then.
The man tried to break it with a stone saw, grinder, drill, sledgehammer, even dipped it in acid! However, nothing could break this pebble. This is because what he tried so hard to break was not the growth around the gold nugget. Then Howl had doubts about the origin of the stone. Did this meteorite fall Australia?
Hole simply took the find to the local museum to get advice from its employees. They explained to David that it was a fallen meteorite.
What did he look like? The stone was all covered with chipped dimples. According to museum workers, this is what happens when they pass through the Earth‘s atmosphere: “They melt on the outside, and the atmosphere shapes them.”
Let’s get acquainted with another photo of the meteorite, located in the Australian Museum. You see fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which are on display at the Melbourne Museum.
“I looked at a lot of rocks that people think are meteorites,” said Melbourne Museum director Dermot Henry. He explained that, in fact, after 37 years at the museum and examining thousands of stones, only two of the stones found and brought back by visitors turned out to be true Australian meteorites. What Howl found was the second specimen.
Characteristics of a meteorite from Australia
This is a stone weighing 17 kilograms. Scientists resorted to using a diamond saw to cut off a small piece from it. They found that a piece of a meteorite from Australia contained a high percentage of iron.
“Meteorites provide the cheapest way to explore space. They take us back in time, providing clues to the age, formation and chemical composition of our solar system,” the director of the museum explained.
Scientists say this type of meteorite from Australia, named Maryborough after its location, is much rarer than gold. He became one of 17 meteorites registered in the state of Victoria.
Using carbon analysis, scientists have established the estimated age of this meteorite from Australia. Researchers claim that Maryborough has been on our planet for 100 to 1000 years.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.