Scientists discover new type of mineral in historic meteorite
April 6th, 2011 - 2:17 pm ICT by ANIWashington, April 6 (ANI): Scientists have discovered a new mineral named ‘Wassonite’ in one of the most historically significant meteorites recovered in Antarctica in December 1969.
The new mineral was found within the meteorite officially designated Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite. The meteorite was discovered the same year as other landmark meteorites Allende and Murchison and the return of the first Apollo lunar samples.
The study of meteorites helps define our understanding of the formation and history of the solar system, say NASA and co-researchers from the United States, South Korea and Japan.
The meteorite likely may have originated from an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Wassonite is among the tiniest, yet most important, minerals identified in the 4.5-billion-year-old sample.
The research team, headed by NASA space scientist Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, added the mineral to the list of 4,500 officially approved by the International Mineralogical Association.
“Wassonite is a mineral formed from only two elements, sulfur and titanium, yet it possesses a unique crystal structure that has not been previously observed in nature,” said Nakamura-Messenger.
In 1969, members of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition discovered nine meteorites on the blue ice field of the Yamato Mountains in Antarctica. This was the first significant recovery of Antarctic meteorites and represented samples of several different types. As a result, the United States and Japan conducted systematic follow-up searches for meteorites in Antarctica that recovered more than 40,000 specimens, including extremely rare Martian and lunar meteorites.
Researchers found Wassonite surrounded by additional unknown minerals that are being investigated. The mineral is less than one-hundredth the width of a human hair or 50×450 nanometers. It would have been impossible to discover without NASA’s transmission electron microscope, which is capable of isolating the Wassonite grains and determining their chemical composition and atomic structure.
“More secrets of the universe can be revealed from these specimens using 21st century nano-technology,” said Nakamura-Messenger. (ANI)
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