Unusual meteorite found in Western Australia

The cricket-ball sized meteorite — Bunburra Rockhole — is an unusual type of basaltic igneous rock with a different composition suggesting it comes from an uncommon asteroid.

“The fact that this meteorite is compositionally unusual increases its value. It helps us to uncover more information about the conditions of the early solar system and how it was formed and evolved,” said Gretchen Benedix, a mineral expert at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London.

Bunburra, which was tracked to the ground using time-lapse images of fireballs recorded by a photographic observatory in Nullarbor, follows an orbit different from that of other meteorites. It began its journey as part of an asteroid in the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Its orbit gradually evolved into one similar to Earth’s.

Other meteorites for which data exist have orbits taking them into the main asteroid belt, the Natural History Museum reported. — PTI