5 New Meteorites Found In Antarctica, Could Hold Answers To Earth's Formation

The five meteorites recovered by the team will now be analysed at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences where scientists will study their chemical composition.

Antarctica is an icy desert. There are large swathes of ice sheets in the southernmost continent and it is the site of the South Pole of the Earth. However, it is the best place to hunt for meteorites. Why? The reason is its climate. Antarctica's dry climate limits the weathering the space rocks experience. Also, the dark appearance of the meteorites makes it easier for explorers to spot them in the snowy fields. This happened with an international team of researchers that found five new meteorites, including one that weighs 16.7 pounds (7.6 kg).

Theme meteorites were found in Antarctica Blue Ice, an area with strong winds where the glaciers get ablated.

The mission was meant to explore new areas of meteorite accumulation around the Belgian Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Station, and lasted from December 11, 2022 to January 11.

"Meteorites are rocks fallen from space as a shooting star. Previously, three successful Belgian-Japanese missions to the Nansen Blue Ice Field near the Belgian station in Antartica collected more than 600 meteorites. Using satellite images and GPS coordinates, the team set out to discover the potential of several areas of interest by searching them for meteorites," Professor Maria Schoenbaechler, from department of earth sciences at ETH-Zurich in Switzerland and part of the team that visited Antarctica, told news agency PTI.