In May 2020, on the territory of the Sahara desert, a very rare meteorite was found, which is a fragment that did not have time to form the planet. It is believed that a small stone was formed more than 4.6 billion years ago, that is, he is older than the land. Researchers are still engaged in studying the found object and believe that it can reveal a lot of interesting facts about the formation of the planets in the solar system. As part of this article, I propose to find out what exactly the scientists are aware of an unusual meteorite and why the planet, part of which he is, and could not fully form. It is worth starting with the fact that the found object is not formed from the dusted particles of dust and rocks, like most ordinary meteorites. The meteorite has volcanic origin, that is, refers to the class of ahondrites, about the peculiarities of which I also mention.
Rare meteorite in the Sahara desert
According to Science Edition ScienceAlert, the found meteorite was given the name ERG Chech 002 (EC 002). It was found in a huge 32-kilogram of a piece of breed, on the territory of the sandy desert of Erg-Chech in the west of the Sahara. Scientists quickly understood that they deal with something unusual and very rare. Usually, the so-called chondritious meteorites are falling to the ground, which consist of the mercated chondrov - formations of a spherical form with a diameter of no more than 1 millimeter. And the found meteorite refers to the ahondrita, which contains no chondrov. It is believed that the ahondrites are deprived of round formations as a result of melting, which usually occurs during volcanic processes.
Scientists believe that the meteorite is part of the protoplanets. This is the name of the planet in the earliest stages of its occurrence, which has already passed the stage of inland melting. This is evidenced by the age of meteorite - the analysis showed that it was formed about 4.6 billion years ago. For comparison, the age of the Earth is estimated at 4.5 billion years. That is, the meteorite arose a little earlier than our planet and, accordingly, over it. For billions of years, he flew through the expanses of the solar system until, in the end, did not fall into the territory of the Sahara.
According to researchers, the detection of such a meteorite is a very rare and important phenomenon for the scientific community. And in general, the chance to discover the ahondrite from scientists is extremely small. According to Meteoritical Bulletin Database, where data from all soles falling on Earth, in the entire history of observations, the researchers have found only 3,179 such meteorites. Some sources say that the ahondrites are common types of meteorites, but the snag is that it is not possible to find them as often as I would like.
Read also: How much rare meteorites cost and where to buy them?
Fate protoplanet
With regard to why Protoplaneta was never born, scientists have one theory. She is pretty simple and says that the heavenly object was simply destroyed and turned into dust. It is also likely that the protoplanet has become part of some larger object. The bark protoplanets could consist of a material called as Andesit. It is distinguished by the content of a large amount of silica and scientists believe that now finding protoplants from such a material is very difficult. And all because most of them disappeared, and without becoming truly truly large.
In general, protofables are among the most mysterious space objects. In 2016, the researchers put forward a very bold assumption that one of the protoplanets once even encountered the moon. The fact is that on the satellite of our planet there is a very big crater, which is known as the sea of rains. Its diameter is equal to 1123 kilometers, so it is clearly visible from the ground. For a long time, scientists were confident that this crater arose due to a collision by a meteorite. But American scientists do not exclude that once a long time with the satellite, something similar to the emerging protoplanet occurs. You can read more about this theory in this material.
If you want to know more about meteorites, I recommend moving on this link and learn about them all the most important. In the article, I told what types of meteorites are divided, where they can be found and even to sell them. I also touched on the theme of false meteorites and their smuggling. In general, it turned out very detailed material, so a pleasant reading!