Star exhibit Cotswold meteorite goes on display at a top London museum
AMETEORITE that landed in a Gloucestershire town can now be seen in its new home. In February this year, it blazed through the sky and crashed down in Winchcombe, in the Cotswolds, baffling locals.
The little piece of rock (which looks a bit like coal) is the first of its kind to be recovered from a fall in 30 years in the UK.
And since Monday, people have been able to go and see it at the Natural History Museum in London, where it will is being kept company by a lump of “kernowite” from Cornwall.
The Winchcombe Meteorite weighs just 103 grams and is as old as the solar system itself, according to the scientists who have examined it.
That means it has been around for 4.5 billion years, watching as our own planet turned from gas and dust into the Earth we know today.
Not only is it rare for a meteorite to be recovered from the UK, but the type of meteorite is known as carbonaceous chondrite - out of 65,000 known meteorites in the world, only around 1,000 are of this type.
Dr Helena Bates, interim curator of meteorites at the museum, said: “This is the first meteorite to fall and be recovered in the UK for 30 years, and the first meteorite of its type to ever be recovered in the UK.
“The meteorite has an incredible four-and-a-half-billion year history, and looking at it is like peering back in time to the beginning of our solar system.
“Despite being quite an unassuming piece of black rock, I hope that when people see it they remember they are looking at something that is probably older than our planet.
“It truly is a success for the future of planetary science and having the joy of looking after it is probably the most exciting thing that will ever happen in my career.”
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