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NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity recently discovered its very first meteorite on the Red Planet, and it wasn’t a small one at all. The meteorite has been dubbed “Lebanon” by scientists, and is nearly 7 freet wide and is made of iron.
Curiosity snapped images of the newly discovered meteorite, which also show a smaller meteorite nearby which has since been dubbed “Lebanon B.”
NASA says the discovery was made all the way back toward the end of May, though the photo was only just released this week. Curiosity has actually spotted three rocks all in close proximity. Lebanon is the seven foot monster, while Lebanon B is punier. Meanwhile, the third rock is also described as a seven foot giant, though NASA apparently forgot to grace that meteorite with a name.
What’s notable about the closeup image shared by NASA is the angular cavities in the surface. NASA explains:
“One possible explanation is that they resulted from preferential erosion along crystalline boundaries within the metal of the rock,” the agency said in a statement. “Another possibility is that these cavities once contained olivine crystals, which can be found in a rare type of stony-iron meteorites called pallasites, thought to have been formed near the core-mantle boundary within an asteroid.”
Next month, on Aug. 5, Curiosity is set to celebrate its second Earth-year anniversary since landing in 2012. In those two years, Curiosity has returned some invaluable information back to researchers on Earth, including possible hints that Mars may have one day supported life.
Agencies/Canadajournal
