FRANCE: Old stone turns out to be unique meteorite dating back to 4.5 billion years

Record ID: 217186

  • Title: FRANCE: Old stone turns out to be unique meteorite dating back to 4.5 billion years
  • Date: 10th February 2010
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 9, 2010) (REUTERS) WIDE VIEW OF EXTERIOR OF THE ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS SERVICE IN PARIS SIGN READING (French) ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS SERVICE SCIENTIST BRIGITTE ZANDA AND SCIENTIST THIERRY MONTMERLE SITTING IN A CLASSROOM SCIENTIST BRIGITTE ZANDA TAKING METEORITE OUT OF THE CARDBOARD BOX IT WAS PRESERVED IN CLOSEUP OF PHOTOGRAPHER CLOSEUP OF HANDS HANDL
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Science / Technology,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA2GF6O8XRJIJYP1JGR8V6HDE2B
  • Story Text: In an extraordinary revelation, an old stone kept away in a cardboard box as junk has turned out to be a rare meteorite dating back to before the creation of the solar system.
    Jean-Jacques Corré, a second-hand goods dealer discovered this piece of "star" amongst a collection of African statuettes he bought in 2001. Unaware of what it was and what it was worth, he kept it away in a cardboard box only to discover that it was a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite, when he took it to be examined at the University of Nantes in France.
    "This meteorite has been through a less intense geological evolution on it's asteroid, that's what makes it so special," said scientist Brigitte Zanda.
    "We can get more information out of it because we have to try to see through the geological history of the meteorite to reconstruct the conditions that were in the very early solar system in the first million years of the solar system's history," Zanda added.
    Bought by the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the meteorite has been baptised "Paris", after the city where it's value was discovered. Where it actually fell remains unknown.
    Weighing 1.3 kgs, the meteorite has been very slightly altered, if at all, by water which makes it easier to decrypt it. Scientists are now working on a tiny slice of the rock in order to gain valuable insights into the history of the universe.
    "There are controversies as to how material got assembled and whether there is material that's distributed all throughout the solar system that's mixed up with high temperature components and there are discussions on that. And by looking at the structure of this meteorite, I think we can answer some of these questions more precisely because it's information is less disturbed than others," Zanda said.
    The actual meteorite itself will placed in a museum where it will be accessible to the public
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