Diyodar Meteorite:
Scientists from Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, are claiming that the meteorite that crashed in two villages in Banaskantha, Gujarat on August 17, 2022, has been identified as an aubrite.
- The PRL group used a gamma-ray spectrometer to determine the mineral composition of aubrite.
- The group also classified the meteorite as a monomict breccia.
- Aubrite meteorite is a coarse-grained igneous rock that formed in oxygen-poor conditions and contains exotic minerals not found on Earth.
- India has seen hundreds of meteorite crashes, but this is only the second recorded crash of an aubrite.
- The meteorite has been named the Diyodar meteorite after the taluka in which the villages are located.
- The last crash of an aubrite before this was in Basti, Uttar Pradesh on December 2, 1852.
- Around 90% of the meteorite was composed of orthopyroxene.
- Pyroxenes are silicates consisting of single chains of silica tetrahedra (SiO 4); orthopyroxenes are pyroxenes with a certain structure.
- Pyroxenes such as diopside and jadeite have been used as gems.
- Spodumene was historically used as lithium ore.
- Rocks with pyroxene have also been used to make crushed stone that is used in construction.
- Aubrites have crashed in at least 12 locations worldwide since 1836, including 3 in Africa and 6 in the U.S.
Meteorite:
- A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from space that survives its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and lands on the Earth’s surface.
