at 2018, a rock fell to the ground Which made a journey of 22 million years to explode in Botswana. The flight path of the six-ton Kalahari asteroid was the first to trace the impact of the explosion on our planet to its origin in the solar system.
This asteroid was discovered just a few hours before its explosion in Earth’s atmosphere.
The asteroid that fell to Earth came from the giant Vesta
Astronomers reconstructed the journey of a 22-million-year-old asteroid through the Solar System and exploded over Botswana, sending meteors to the Kalahari Desert.
It's the first time that scientists have repositioned space rocks to their origin - in this case The original is the Giant Vista. As mentioned earlier, this is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt that surrounds the sun between Jupiter and Mars.
The six-ton asteroid penetrated the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 60,000 km / h in June 2018, and broke over the central game reserve in Kalahari, Which creates a fireball almost as bright as the sun.
Immediate investigations of the presumed landing site found a small meteor called Motobi Pan.
NASA researchers have located the dangerous object up to the moon using telescopes in Arizona and Hawaii.
After the collision, astronomers in Australia were asked to verify the images from the telescope SkyMapper In New South Wales, this equipment is used to study black holes and the like. However, the telescope could have captured the asteroid's flight path.
To the surprise of the researchers, there was very accurate data!
The asteroid that fell to Earth was part of another
Asteroid fragments, called 2018LAIt was discovered with three telescopes far from Earth's surface, allowing astronomers to reconstruct the path of the rocks and determine their source. Thus, the path led to Vesta, an asteroid 530 kilometers wide that can sometimes be seen without a telescope.
The investigators were equipped with an idea of their path. This path, taken by investigators, has been cleared of where their remains were found, after it had exploded in the atmosphere.
At that time, expeditions were organized to recover the remains that might have been on the ground. According to the news at the time, more than 20 other meteors were found scattered over a 5-kilometer strip of Earth.
After a journey of 22 million years, he died on Earth
Mineral analyzes of fragments indicate that the 2018LA rock was originally buried deep in the surface of Vesta, but was released into space during the impact of leaving a crater on the asteroid about 22 million years ago.
An ejected space rock roamed the solar system, exposing its surface to cosmic rays, until it fell into the arms of Earth's gravity and fell to Earth.
Lab tests showed that the oldest grains are inside The meteorites discovered date back 4.56 billion years, A time when the Solar System was still forming from a disk of gas and interstellar dust.
Details have been posted at Meteorites and Planetary Sciences.
