Astronomers get some Clues of Planets PFormation from Shooting Asteroid
Scientists and astronomers found a meteorite on Earth and matched it with an asteroid that plunged like a fireball. This will give them a clue on how planets were formed as well as an idea on how an asteroid rain be avoided.
It was during 2008 October that astronomers had tracked one small asteroid heading towards Earth. It was named TC3. TC3 became a shooting star a little later and blew up before reaching Earth. The researchers believed that no space rocks would be left for their study.
However, thanks to the pain endured by researching students in the deserts of Sudan, they could collect rocks and other residues of TC3 weighing over 8 pounds. Surprisingly these were loads of events carrying diamond like particles according to article published in Nature.
Astronomers have been contemplating on sending a robot that could probe asteroid for studies. But now without all that TC3 threw enough chunks for research.
From the leftovers and chunks of TC3 they studied astronomers say that TC3 attempted to become a planet and failed at it. They will now try to read the physics of these asteroids. TC3 is classified as F class asteroid that are most times fragile and porous. According to researchers F class asteroids are not a threat because of their porous nature.
The residues contained metallic substances of iron and nickel as well as graphite. The minuscule diamonds would form a subject of interest.
A researcher quipped, “if bacteria had engagement rings, these (the nanodiamonds) would be the right size for them.”
