University of Silesia bought a meteorite
The University of Silesia paid PLN 12,000 for 65-gram meteorite, which on April 30 this year fell in Sołtmany near Giżycko. Few billion years old cosmic matter will be on display in the university museum in Sosnowiec.
The meteorite was purchased by the University of Silesia on May 13, and
on the next day it was classified by Prof. Łukasz Karwowski from the
department of geochemistry, mineralogy and petrography of the Faculty of
Earth Sciences. "It is an ordinary chondrite class L5-6. Such
meteorites are sometimes found in the world, but they do not fall from
the sky every day. Last fall of such meteorite was observed 17 years
ago" - explained Prof. Karwowski.
Microsample of cosmic matter,
as the find is called at the university, was discovered "at low cost".
It fell onto one of the farm buildings in Sołtmany on the lake
Wydmińskie at 6:06 am on 30 April. The owner initially did not know, she
held in her hands. Scientists said that it was her daughter who
suggested that it could a meteorite.
News about the discovery
spread fast. Meteorite enthusiast arrived, and informed the Astronomical
Observatory in Frombork. From Frombork, information was quickly passed
to the Polish Meteorite Society, of which Prof. Karwowski is president.
Meteorite
sample purchased by the University of Silesia weighs 65 grams. The
exhibit is black on the outside, which means that it has a melt coating
after passing through Earth's atmosphere. On the inside it is gray-white
and very fragile.
Meteorite samples have been sent to a
specialized laboratory in Gran Saso, Italy. "The acquisition of
meteorite raises the prestige of the institution. We can study it for
years. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it was found shortly after
the fall. We can therefore immediately examine its properties. It is a
very rare opportunity. In addition to studies of short half-life
isotopes, which allow to analyse many properties of meteorites, we are
also planning to analyse the contents of gases" - explained Karwowski.
Research,
which will be outsourced to one of Canadian laboratories, will allow to
determine the origin of the meteorite, even though, as the scientists
explained, it can be assumed that it originates from the zone of
asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Tests will also allow to calculate
when it detached from the parent body. Scientists will determine the
time of its presence in space, which in the case of this type of matter
is often determined at 4.5 to 6 million years.
Meteorite that
fell in Sołtmany weighs about 1 kg. The owner of the property found it
in several pieces. The whole meteorite was the size of a human fist. One
of the pieces has been bought by the Wrocław University of Technology.
Prof. Karwowski is convinced that the other pieces will be sold out
within few days. "Many private collectors are interested" - explained
the President of the Polish Meteorite Society.
The meteorite will
be on display in the museum. In the near future the museum staff will
prepare a special exhibition with photographic documentation.
"It
would be a great loss if the meteorite were sold abroad" - said on Ewa
Budziszewska-Karwowska, director of the Museum of the Faculty of Earth
Sciences, University of Silesia.
Recovered meteorites are the
property of the State Treasury, but according to custom universities and
other research institutions, which want to have cosmic matter in their
collections, pay finder's rewards.(PAP)
last modification: 2011-06-16
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