Saturday, March 28, 2009

Scientists recover meteorites from asteroid which entered our atmosphere

This endeavour was the first of its kind- trying to observe an asteroid entering the atmosphere and recovering parts of the celestial body in the form of meteorites. Recently it was known that a very small asteroid was about to enter the atmosphere and burn up on 10/7/2008. The hope was that the asteroid could be observed entering the atmosphere and that some meteorites would survive on reentry.
Here is more information and a photo of one of the bigger meteorites
3/28/2009
not 3/28 consult archives
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Here is more information about the meteorite
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/03/25/meteorites-found-in-africa-from-first-predicted-asteroid-hit/
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7237/full/nature07920.html