An asteroid hit Earth in 2018, and now we know where it came from

[Mike Wehner]

When a chunk of space rock makes it to the surface of Earth there's always a question as to where it originated. Scientists have gotten quite good at being able to trace the source of various pieces of space debris based on the makeup of the rock as well as the position of Earth and the direction the rock was traveling through space when it met up with our planet. In 2018, an asteroid that was being tracked through space resulted in debris that impacted Earth in Botswana in Southern Africa. After the rock was found, researchers began the task of tracing its origins, and a new paper published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science provides their conclusions.

According to the scientists, the asteroid likely originated from a massive asteroid that astronomers have been keeping their eyes on for some time. The space rock is known as Vesta, and it's the second-largest known asteroid in our solar system. Vesta's history is clouded in mystery, but it's believed that impacts on the asteroid's surface created many pieces of debris and it looks like one of those chunks found its way to Earth.

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An asteroid hit Earth in 2018, and now we know where it came from originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 27 Apr 2021 at 16:11:59 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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