Unusual meteorite found in Antarctica
September 19, 2006U.S. scientists say they recovered an unusual meteorite late last year in Antarctica -- a type of lunar meteorite seen only once before.
The specimen was found by a field party from the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites program -- ANSMET -- which has headquarters at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
The meteorite was discovered last December on an ice field in the Transantarctic Mountains, about 470 miles from the South Pole. The black rock, slightly larger than a golf ball and officially designated MIL 05035, was one of 238 meteorites collected by ANSMET during the 2005-06 austral summer.
Scientists involved in classification of Antarctic finds at NASA's Johnson Space Center and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History say the meteorite is a piece of the moon that is very old and may improve the understanding of the moon's history.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Jan 07, 2009 |
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