Field Museum research scientist part of team that discovered a large, rare meteorite in Antarctica

Maria Valdes, a research scientist from the Field Museum, kneeling at center, was part of an international team of scientists that discovered a large, rare meteorite “the size of a gourd” this month in Antarctica. With Valdes are, from left, Maria Schönbächler, Valdes, Ryoga Maeda and Vinciane Debaille, standing.

The international team knew what they were looking at from 100 meters away: a huge meteorite “the size of a gourd,” recalled Field Museum research scientist Maria Valdes, who was part of the team.“To put the meteorite’s size in perspective, of the 45,000 meteorites retrieved from Antarctica over the last century, only 100 are this size or larger,” the Field Museum said.

The ice field searches were done on snowmobiles. The scientists drove in a V-formation, traveling at slower speeds of about 6 mph so that the scientists could survey the region, she said. It was only when they were about to turn around and finish their survey that they spotted the meteorite, Valdes said.

One telltale clue that the scientists had discovered a meteorite and not a rock was that it was “the size of a bowling ball, but twice the weight of a bowling ball,” Valdes said.“Size doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to meteorites, and even tiny micrometeorites can be incredibly scientifically valuable,” Valdes said.

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