A team of Australian geologists have found a
meteorite fragment that's been deemed older than the Earth itself. The team
recovered this by using a network of 32 remote camera observatories, a mass of
complicated geographical calculations, an aerial spotter, a remotely operated
drone and two human searchers. On 27th of November 2015, this
meteorite fell down on Earth from somewhere further away from the Mars. William
Creek and Marree from the South Australia noticed its fall on Earth. It was
observed by Desert Fireball Network (DFN), an array of 32 remote camera
observatories stationed across the Australian outback. On December 29, DFN team
members started to search around Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre area where the meteorite
fallen after some analysis and calculations.
“It was an amazing effort. We got there by the
skin of our teeth”, said Bland in a statement.
This geological discovery will not only tell us
more about the origins of our Universe but it is also an encouragement for the
DFN. Bland also said that the camera
observatories would also enable us to calculate the solar system orbit of this
meteorite.
Bland's colleague, Jonathan Paxman said “Our team
worked around the clock for the rapid recovery of something that would have
been lost if we'd gotten there any later”.