South Africa’s Vredefort impact structure is the largest on the planet, and researchers have now discovered the first proximal ejecta possibly deriving from the cataclysmic impact.
meteors & meteorites
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Glassy Nodules Pinpoint a Meteorite Impact
Researchers working in Chile’s Atacama Desert have collected thousands of “atacamaites” that suggest a meteorite struck the region roughly 8 million years ago.
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A Remarkably Constant History of Meteorite Strikes
Researchers dissolve chunks of the ancient seafloor to trace Earth’s impact history and find that colossal clashes between asteroids don’t often trigger an uptick in meteorite strikes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Fingerprints of Jupiter Formation
Meteorite isotopes, meteorite paleomagnetics, and planet formation models collectively show Jupiter formation via first slow then fast collection of material by core accretion in <5 million years.
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Martian Meteorites Shed Light on Solar System’s Early Dynamics
Chemical compositions of rocks from Mars indicate that the earliest orbits of Jupiter and Saturn were more circular than they are today.
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Half of Earth’s Nitrogen May Be Homegrown
A new analysis of iron meteorites reveals a distinct isotopic signature that suggests nitrogen was present around early Earth.
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Measuring Massive Magnetic Meteorites
A new tool to measure the magnetic signatures of big meteorites could not only aid NASA’s mission to Psyche; it could also help solve mysteries about how magnetic fields formed in our early solar system.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Traces of Impacts on Warm Planetesimals Early in Solar System
Meteorite NWA 11004 contains evidence of melting preceding an impact dated to 4546±36 Ma. Short lived radioactive decay had already heated the parent body of this meteorite before the impact.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
First Model of Meteoric Nickel in the Upper Atmosphere
A layer of nickel of cosmic origin, which exists between 80 and 110 km high in Earth’s atmosphere, has been modeled for the first time, including dynamics and complex neutral and ion chemistry.
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Tiny Fireballs May One Day Reveal Unseen Asteroids
The tiny fireball that flew over Japan in 2017 came from an asteroid that could threaten Earth in 10 million years or so. Scientists are trying to use these little meteors to hunt larger objects.