Scientists has come up with a conclusion regarding meteorites that these bodies could possibly be products of a 466-million-year-old asteroid collision. The researchers reconstructed the ancient meteorites that landed on Earth following the said cataclysmic collision. The study then revealed that the meteorites that are falling on Earth at present and those in the past before the collision have profound difference, hence the conclusion.
A study published by the Nature Astronomy revealed that the meteorites landing on Earth are most probably shrapnels of a 466-million-year-old asteroid collision. The researchers reportedly investigated specimens of present-day meteorites and compared them to those that built up on Earth before the collision. Following this, scientists found out that these two sets of meteorites are relatively different.
The findings of the scientists working on the study then broke the conventional belief that the solar system has been in a stable condition over the past 500 million years. “We found that the meteorite flux, the variety of meteorites falling to Earth, was very, very different from what we see today,” lead author Philipp Heck from The Field Museum in Chicago said as cited by the Mail Online. Heck and his team then believe tthat the huge incident could have contributed to the explosion of biodiversity during that era.
The meteorite “weather” today then is believed to still be a part of that collision. According to the Washington Post, some of the now-rare meteorites that came before the asteroid collision are reportedly from Vesta which is a bright protoplanet, while some others are far more “ungrouped” meteorites or weird rocks. The team imagined the meteorites to have come from the asteroid collision where the debris bumped into each other further forming smaller and more pieces.
The findings of Heck and his team is said to be helpful to astronomers in understanding the collision history of the Earth’s asteroid belt. The study will also help the astronomers into their search on how the incident can influence the Earth as they are reportedly still beginning to see the behavior of objects floating in space near the planet. Heck also said that by understanding the incidents in the past, scientists can predict possible happenings in the future.
