Scientists in the UK believe they have identified the source of one of the rarest meteorites to ever fall on Earth. The Ivuna meteorite landed in Tanzania in December 1938 and was subsequently split into a number of samples – one of which is housed at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London.
Based on an analysis of an asteroid known as Ryugu, experts believe the Ivuna rock may have originated from the edge of the solar system. The NHM team said its findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could unlock more answers about the early history of the solar system and shed more light on how life came to exist on Earth.
Professor Sara Russell, a senior research lead at the museum, who is a co-author on the paper, told the PA news agency: "It is a really exciting discovery for me because it shows that meteorites in our museum and in collections around the world, might actually sample most of the solid solar system, from the innermost rocky part to its furthest outer reaches. We can use them to learn more about our origins and about all our companion planets."
