In September of last year, a fireball suddenly fell from the sky over Europe and fell to Earth with a shock of 0.48TNT kilotons. The identity of this fireball is a type of meteorite called carbonaceous chondrite. As a result of the analysis, it is originally expected to contain primitive substances, which are rarer among rare meteorites and contain primitive materials when the solar system was created.
To be precise, on September 12, 2019 (local time), more than 500 people from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the United Kingdom witness a dazzling light rising from the sky in broad daylight. The next day, a black circle-like stone is found in the garden of a man living in Flensburg, Germany. This strange stone was immediately submitted and turned out to be a meteorite, and it was investigated at the Institute of Planetary Sciences at the University of Munster.
Named Flensburg, the meteorite measures 37 x 35 mm and weighs 24.5 grams. As a result of investigation using an electron microscope, the research team found that it contains spherical particles of 0.05 to 1 mm size called chondrules, among which phyllosilicate minerals and carbonates are abundant.
Neither phyllosilicate minerals nor carbonates are formed without water. For this reason, the Flensbruck meteorite appears to be considered a carbonaceous chondrite like the planet that sent water to the proto Earth. These discoveries are similar to finding diamonds in mines for scientists. Carbonaceous chondrites are only 3% of the meteorites found on Earth, and are a valuable clue to the 4.6 billion years ago the solar system was born.
The most famous carbonaceous chondrite is a 100kg Murchison meteorite that flew to Australia in September 1969 and is said to contain surprising molecules such as amino acids and sugars. It is expected that the information obtained from the carbonaceous chondrite and the information collected by the spacecraft actually going into space will be a clue to the early appearance of the solar system. Related information can be found here .