Study Allende meteorite

path of fireball , area in northern mexico meteorite pieces landed (the strewnfield).

allende called best-studied meteorite in history. there several reasons this: allende fell in 1969, months before apollo program return first moon rocks. time of great excitement , energy among planetary scientists. field attracting many new workers , laboratories being improved. result, scientific community ready study new meteorite. number of museums launched expeditions mexico collect samples, including smithsonian institution , collected hundreds of kilograms of material cais. cais billions of years old, , determine age of solar system. cais had unusual isotopic compositions, many being distinct earth, moon , other meteorites wide variety of isotopes. these isotope anomalies contain evidence processes occurred in other stars before solar system formed.

allende contains chondrules , cais estimated 4.567 billion years old, oldest known matter (other carbonaceous chondrites contain these). material 30 million years older earth , 287 million years older oldest rock known on earth, thus, allende meteorite has revealed information conditions prevailing during formation of solar system. carbonaceous chondrites, including allende, primitive meteorites, , contain primitive known matter. have undergone least mixing , remelting since stages of solar system formation. because of this, age taken age of solar system.