Extra-terrestrial water has been found for the first time in a meteorite that has fallen in the UK. The Winchcombe meteorite, which crashed into a driveway in the Gloucestershire town last February, is also thought to hold clues about where the water in the Earth’s vast oceans came from.
Analysis has revealed that the meteorite came from an asteroid somewhere near Jupiter. It formed some 4.6 billion years ago, with its journey to Earth taking about 300,000 years.
There are approximately 65,000 known meteorites on Earth. This is the first known carbonaceous chondrite to have been found in the UK, and the first meteorite recovered in the UK in 30 years.
