[meteorite-list] Researchers find ancient meteorite dust

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:37:32 -0800
Message-ID: <93aaac890811230137u60217dbfh47eacf5321a913d8_at_mail.gmail.com>

http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/21045.html

Researchers find ancient meteorite dust


PISA, Italy, Nov. 18 (UPI) --

Italian explorers and geologists in the Antarctic report finding the
world's largest and oldest cache of meteorite particles.

Some 1.35 million bits of space dust were found while the group led by
Luigi Folco of Pisa University was on an expedition in the
Transatlantic Mountains, the Italian news agency ANSA reported
Tuesday. The researchers say the dust could offer possibilities on how
life began on Earth.

The explorers found balls of Earth glass and other material that came
from a gigantic cosmic impact, Folco said, that probably occurred in
Indonesia.

Folco and his team said many of the particles are ''gigantic,
permitting tests that were impossible up till now."

The discovery will allow scientists to trace meteorite showers dating
back 1 million years ago, ANSA said.

The space particles have been taken to Siena University. The
researchers' study was published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences in America.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.
Received on Sun 23 Nov 2008 04:37:32 AM PST


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