Extraterrestrial water is found for the first time in a British meteorite

Alien water has been found for the first time in a meteorite that fell in Britain.

The Winchcombe meteorite, which crashed into a driveway in the city of Gloucestershire in February last year, is also said to hold clues as to where Earth’s vast oceans originated.

Ashley King, a researcher in the Planetary Materials Group at the Natural History Museum, said 12 percent of the sample was water.

He told the British Science Festival: “The composition of this water is very, very similar to the composition of the water in the Earth’s oceans.

“This is really good evidence that asteroids and bodies like Winchcombe made a very important contribution to Earth’s oceans.”

dr King also confirmed that Winchcombe was the first time a meteorite containing extraterrestrial water – albeit encased in minerals – had fallen in Britain.

He added that the 1-pound (0.5 kg) meteorite was not contaminated by water and materials on Earth due to the rapid recovery — in about 12 hours.

“We’re always trying to match the composition of water meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials to the composition of water on Earth,” said Dr. King.

“The challenge for us with most meteorites is that they’re just contaminated, whereas with Winchcombe we really know they really weren’t contaminated, so that’s good evidence.”

dr King continued, “One of the big questions we have in planetary science is where does the water on Earth come from? And one of the obvious places is either through comets, which have loads of ice in them, or through asteroids.

“There’s always a debate – were comets the main source, were asteroids the main source?”

Explaining that data from missions on comets suggests they don’t match well with water on Earth, he added: “The composition of the water at Winchcombe is a much better match, which would imply that asteroids – carbonaceous asteroids – are likely.” they were the main water source of the inner solar system, the earth.’

dr King continued, “We have an indication that some asteroids are a good match for Earth.

“But now we have a really fresh meteorite that we know hasn’t been modified, and it confirms the same story.”

Speaking at De Montfort University, which hosts the festival, Dr. King, the analysis showed that the meteorite came from an asteroid somewhere near Jupiter.

It formed about 4.6 billion years ago, taking about 300,000 years to travel to Earth.

There are approximately 65,000 known meteorites on Earth.

This is the first known carbonaceous chondrite found in Britain and the first meteorite found in Britain in 30 years.

Astronomers say the meteorite plummeted into Earth orbit at about 50,000 km/h – 40 times the speed of sound – before burning up and dramatically breaking up into smaller pieces.

But unlike most shooting stars, this meteorite was large enough that a few chunks survived entry into the atmosphere as it hurtled over Gloucestershire at 9:54 p.m. on February 28, 2021.

Very little survived from the dramatic crash landing, allowing a few pounds of material to fall to the ground at Winchcombe.

All pieces of meteorite material found in the city were then taken to the Natural History Museum.

Sara Russell, a meteorite researcher at the Natural History Museum, described the meteorite’s discovery as a “unique event.”

The meteorite was the first known carbonaceous chondrite found in Britain

It was removed shortly after landing as scientists were keen to examine the rock more closely