The oldest meteorite is about the same age as the Solar System

A 4.565-billion-year-old meteorite in Mauritania could reveal the process of forming the solar system.

Rugby-sized meteorite ' Northwest Africa (NWA) 11119 was found in a sand dune in Mauritania, MSN yesterday reported. Researchers calculate this meteorite dates up to 4.565 billion years.

Scientists believe that the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago when the cloud of gas and dust collapsed under the influence of gravity, possibly due to the big explosion from nearby stars or supernova. After the cloud collapsed, the rotating disk ring with the Sun at the center was born. They expect the NWA 11119 meteorite to reveal much about this process.

This meteorite has the highest silica content and the largest chronology.

"The meteorite we studied is unlike any other meteorite," said Daniel Dunlap of the University of Arizona Meteorological Research Center, co-author of a paper published in Nature Communications. "It has the highest amount of silica and the largest chronological age (4.565 billion years) among known meteors. This type of meteorite is the guideline for planet formation, an important step in the evolution of heaven. rock formations in the solar system ".

The study provided the first direct evidence that the silica-rich rocks of the crust formed on small rocks in the first 10 million years after the solar system appeared, then merged into rocky planets. The study was conducted by a team of scientists at the University of New Mexico, USA (UNM).

Using electronic detectors and computed tomography at UNM and NASA's Johnson Space Center, lead researcher Poorna Srinivasan examined the composition and mineral ratio of meteorites. Srinivasan pays attention to the complexity of the NWA 11119 including a bright green mixed shell.

"The mineral composition of this rock is very different from any other specimen we studied before. I check the mineral composition to understand every stage of meteorite formation. One of the main features we have The first realization was that large tridymite crystals were rich in silica, similar to quartz, and when we analyzed images to determine quantities, we found that tridymite amounted to 30% of meteorites. in meteorites, " Srinivasan said.