Researchers from the Italian Institute of Astrophysics (Inas) have located new fragments of a meteorite that fell last week in the city of Matera, southern Italy, which would be 45 billion years old, as many as the solar system, according to the first results of the investigations.
The meteorite, which fell at 300 kilometers per hour on the balcony of a councilor's house, is one of three aerolites that hit Earth last week: on February 13 in France, on February 14 in Italy and on February 15 in Texas.
"The episode is part of a series of three events that took place on three successive days. This, counting that those registered since 1960 are about 40, is a truly exceptional event that will probably never be repeated," said Dario Barghin on Monday, expert from the University of Turin (north), in a press conference reported by the local media.
According to the researchers, the meteorite could be a chondrite from the main asteroid belt of the solar system, and the fact that several of its fragments fell into a house without touching terrestrial soil prevented them from being contaminated and, therefore, the study of its chemical and mineral composition will have even more value.
