I got Stardust 🤩
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Do you remember, I wrote about taking my telescope to the mountains? Although I spotted a comet with the naked eye back then, I didn't find time to use a telescope except on the last night when there were no stars except Vega at 60 degrees above the horizon, but I couldn't view it through a telescope. I still haven't gotten my way around that ridiculous tube with God-knows-what accessories in the name of lenses. In fact, it disappointed me so much that night that I hadn't taken it out since then. Another reason, it has been too hot outside for this leisure activity.
Anyhoo, while on that trip, some other space enthusiasts joined us on that stellar expedition but none had any previous hands-on experience with a telescope. Although the telescope remained among the adults that night, my 7-year-old was eager to locate a star, and he helped us a lot in navigating the sky through the Stellarium app. Seeing his love for space, one acquaintance promised my son some stardust.
I thought he was just kidding around with him. It's been 5 months now and we totally forgot about that. But yesterday, my husband brought home two collectible cards given by that acquaintance. He gave one to my son and handed one to me, saying...
"Begum, aj ap k liye taraay tor laya hun."
(My lady, I have brought down the stars for you today.)
I looked mockingly at him and then at the card and was baffled to see that he was right. Only that he didn't go out there himself but he actually brought home stardust.
The particles looked like black tea at first, probably because I was craving tea at that time.
There's an authentication number on both cards. It also says at the back that these particles belong to actual fallen stars. There are signatures of the director of research, an authenticity statement, and a website that doesn't open, though. I would like to believe them to be real.
The meteor information at the back intrigued me and made me want to dig up more on both meteors on the said website but either the website is misspelled or it doesn't work in my country. Anyhoo, I wasn't going to leave it like that and researched a little about these meteorites on Google.
Namibia/Botswana Meteor
At first, I thought it was the famous Hoba Meteor, which fell down 80,000 years ago and was discovered in the early 1900s. Namibia is home to many meteor falls but the one that I have, fell near the Gibeon field and is apparently rare. Unlike Hoba which fell as one giant piece, it fell in fragments. I haven't figured out its composition but it's possibly mostly iron or nickel.
Gibeon Meteor
The card says that this meteor caused a crater in Africa. But I haven't found any scientific reference to that. There are impact craters in South Africa and Mauritania but not in or near Gibeon.
These meteorites have Widmanstatten patterns, indicating that these are composed of iron-nickel alloys. These patterns formed when this celestial body cooled down causing the slow crystallization of metal. source
This meteor fell on Earth nearly 4000 years ago and was discovered in the 1800s near Gibeon.
Why both meteors fell in Africa?
I was wondering if there's a scientific reason or if Africa is some sort of a magnet to meteors. I know it sounds absurd because meteors can fall anywhere regardless of the geographical characteristics. Upon a little research, I noticed that major meteorite sites are all vast planes like deserts in Antarctica, Chile, and Africa. These open landscapes probably make it easier to spot these extraterrestrial elements.
I am tempted to break the seal and touch these tiny fragments. They will probably feel ordinary but the child in me wants to hold and feel something that was once in outer space.
These meteorites are being studied to learn more about our solar system and the stars as they once belonged there.
Speaking of stars, I have literally got some stardust. It looks ugly but who cares... ✨️ 😀
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