Story at a glance
- Small fragments of asteroid 2018 LA landed near the border of Botswana and South Africa in 2018.
- Australian scientists have reconstructed the path of an asteroid’s 22-million-year journey before it hit the Earth.
- The debris came from Vesta, one of the largest bodies in the asteroid belt orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Mars.
The end of asteroid 2018 LA’s 22-million-year journey through space came in 2018 near the border of Botswana and South Africa. Two years later, scientists have finally tracked the rock back to where it came from: Vesta.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
ELON MUSK’S SPACEX LAUNCHES NASA CREW-2 INTO ORBIT
FOR ITS NEXT TRICK, NASA’S HELICOPTER FLEW SIDEWAYS ON MARS
NASA’S MARS LANDER IS IN EMERGENCY HIBERNATION — AND IT COULD DIE
NASA UNVEILS SPECTACULAR PHOTO OF BLUE DUNES ON MARS
NASA SAYS SPECTACULAR PHOTO OF MARS RAINBOW ISN’T REAL
Barend Swanepoel saw the fire ball on his way home from his neighbor’s home, according to his son’s post on YouTube, which was caught on CCTV by several people in the area. The boulder-sized asteroid entered the Earth’s atmosphere at 10 miles per second, tracked by NASA, and disintegrated several miles above the Kalahari game reserve, where meteorites were found.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
“We wouldn’t have noticed it had it not been for the tip-off by the American discoverers, and it hits close to home,” Christian Wolf, an astronomer at Australian National University, told The Guardian. “Granted, it’s the Kalahari and I have never been there, but when your day job involves orienteering along a chain of black holes with an average step size of 1bn light years between the waypoints, the Kalahari feels awfully close to your keyboard.”
Using samples of the rock, scientists concluded that it likely originated from Vesta, one of the largest bodies in the asteroid belt orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Mars, and dated back to 4.56 billion years ago — giving researchers a glimpse at an earlier universe.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
‘SPACE HURRICANE’ SEEN HOVERING ABOVE THE EARTH FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
WORLD’S FIRST SPACE HOTEL PLANS GRAND OPENING IN JUST SIX YEARS
MINUTES AFTER ELON MUSK DECLARES SUCCESS, MARS ROCKET EXPLODES IN GIANT FIREBALL
MARS ROVER CARRIED SECRET MESSAGE SPACE FANS DECODED
WE DON’T BELONG ON MARS, WE HAVEN’T LANDED ON EARTH YET
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
