Rare Meteorite Carrying Extraterrestrial Water Found in England

The composition of the water found in the meteorite appears to be a “much better match” with water on Earth than ice found on comets.

Water that originated beyond our world has for the first time been found in a meteorite, which crashed in the town of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire earlier this year, Sky News reports.

Ashley King, a researcher in the planetary materials group at the Natural History Museum, has explained that the asteroid sample, 12 percent of which was comprised of water, may yield significant insights due to it not being contaminated by terrestrial materials.

"The composition of that water is very, very similar to the composition of water in the Earth's oceans," he told the British Science Festival hosted by De Montfort University. "It's a really good piece of evidence that asteroids and bodies like Winchcombe made a very important contribution to the Earth's oceans."

King pointed out that while comparing the composition of water meteorites with the composition of water on Earth is hampered by the contamination of these extraterrestrial object, the meteorite found in Winchcombe was recovered within about 12 hours of impact and therefore had not been contaminated by materials on our planet, “so it’s good evidence.”

Remember The Winchcombe meteorite, which crashed into a driveway in the Gloucestershire town in February last year ?

Well a researcher in the planetary materials group at the Natural History Museum #NHM found 12% of the sample was made up of water, which makes you think 🤔🪐👽 pic.twitter.com/D217O4vf23

— Mr Pål Christiansen 🇳🇴😍🇬🇧 (@TheNorskaPaul) September 17, 2022

He also noted that, while data obtained via missions to comets shows that these icy space objects are not a good match to water on Earth, the Winchcombe meteorite is a whole different story.

"The composition of the water in Winchcombe is a much better match, so that would imply that asteroids - carbonaceous asteroids - were probably the main source of water to the inner solar system, to the Earth," King elaborated.

The scholar also revealed that analysis suggests the meteorite in question came from an asteroid in the vicinity of Jupiter, supposedly formed around 4.6 billion years ago, the media outlet adds.