Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Green Meteorite Found In Morocco May Be From Mercury

Posted by samzenpus on from the hot-rock dept.

An anonymous reader writes in with news that a meteorite found in Morocco might be from Mercury. "The green rock found in Morocco last year may be the first known visitor from the solar system's innermost planet, according to meteorite scientist Anthony Irving, who unveiled the new findings this month at the 44th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The study suggests that a space rock called NWA 7325 came from Mercury, and not an asteroid or Mars."

2 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's an Easter present. by chill · · Score: 4, Informative

    A fan of H2G2 you are not.

    Creator of the universe as claimed by adherents of the faith on planet Viltvodle VI. Their legend has it that the universe was sneezed out of the nose of the Great Green Arkleseizure, and they thus live in perpetual fear of the time they call "The Coming of the Great White Handkerchief."

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  2. Re:Dumb Question: by emurphy42 · · Score: 5, Informative
    From TFA:

    NWA 7325 has a lower magnetic intensity — the magnetism passed from a cosmic body's magnetic field into a rock — than any other rock yet found, Irving said. Data sent back from NASA's Messenger spacecraft currently in orbit around Mercury shows that the planet's low magnetism closely resembles that found in NWA 7325, Irving said.

    Messenger's observations also provided Irving with further evidence that could support his hypothesis. Scientists familiar with Mercury's geological and chemical composition think that the planet's surface is very low in iron. The meteorite is also low in iron, suggesting that wherever the rock came from, its parent body resembles Mercury.