{"id":39206,"date":"2013-02-28T16:03:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T21:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=34956"},"modified":"2013-02-28T16:03:17","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T21:03:17","slug":"large-meteorite-discovered-in-antarctica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/large-meteorite-discovered-in-antarctica\/","title":{"rendered":"Large Meteorite Discovered In Antarctica"},"content":{"rendered":"

A large meteorite, possessing a mass of 18 kilograms, has been discovered buried in the East Antarctic ice sheet by researchers working at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station. This is the biggest meteorite discovered in the last 25 years.<\/p>\n

\"20130228-131844.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Eight scientists from the SAMBA project were out looking for meteorites on the Nansen Ice Field on the day of January 28, when they came upon the 18 kilogram “ordinary chondrite”. After searching the area further, the researchers “discovered a total of 425 meteorites, with a total weight of 75kg during the 40 day expedition, at an altitude of 2,900m, 140km south of Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research base.”<\/p>\n

“This meteorite was a very unexpected find for us, not only due to its weight, but because we don’t normally find such large meteorites in Antarctica,” said Vinciane Debaille, a geologist from Universit\u00e9 Libre de Bruxelles, who led the Belgian part of the team during the expedition. “This is the biggest meteorite found in East Antarctica for 25 years, so it’s a very special discovery for us, only made possible by the existence and location of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.”<\/p>\n