Blast From the Past

Something fell out of the sky and it's as old as Earth

October 6. 5:45 a.m. Northern Sudan. The Fajr, a pre-dawn Muslim prayer, is taking place. Suddenly, the entire sky lights up like a bright spark. A man throws himself to the ground, thinking a rocket is incoming. Then, a smaller blast and finally, minutes later, several objects pounded the ground with one rapid thud after another.

It was no rocket. It was 2008 TC3, an asteroid that was formed at around the same time the Earth was born. 2008 TC3 was likely one of many pieces of rock that were going to become a planet, but for some reason, it didn't happen that way.

Instead, this porous and delicate hunk of prehistoric rock 16 feet (5 meters) in diameter spent the last 4.5 billion years hurtling through space and ended up exploding into fragments 23 miles (37 kilometers) above a remote Sudanese desert.

It was the first time that scientists have been able to connect meteorites found on Earth with a specific asteroid, giving us a clearer glimpse into the past when planets formed -- and how to prevent a potential massive asteroid collision with Earth in the future.

Researchers and students scoured the 18-mile (29-kilometer) blast radius in December and retrieved 280 black and flaky meteorites that were once part of 2008 TC3. Containing olivine and microscopic diamonds, the space rocks are ureilite-type meteorites from a rare F-class asteroid, a type that makes up less than 2 percent of all known asteroids. Details of the analysis of the first batch of meteorites was reported on in this week's issue of Nature.

In Islamic thought, the Fajr is God's favorite prayer of the day, because it comes at a time when the less devout are still fast asleep. Those who were up and praying at the time of 2008 TC3's explosive arrival would probably agree.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition to add the option for US taxpayers to contribute to NASA on the IRS 1040 tax form
• See what's in the sky tonight
• Download the new Google Earth 5.0, which now has an interactive map of the entire surface of Mars
• Buy a beginner telescope from the Discovery Channel store ($99.00)

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MORE ON THIS

• Video of Asteroid 2008 TC3 (Astronomy.com, October 16, 2008)

image credit: Nubian Desert, northern Sudan, photo by Bertramz