在著名隕石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的古行星遺跡

在著名隕石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的古行星遺跡

Though it was discovered in the Australian outback in the 1950s and has been studied often since then, researchers only just recently found a surprising result buried inside the Wedderburn meteorite — remnants of an ancient planet and a new mineral not seen in nature.

盡管它是在20世紀50年代在澳大利亞內(nèi)陸被發(fā)現(xiàn)的，并且從那時起就經(jīng)常被研究，研究人員只是最近才發(fā)現(xiàn)一個令人驚訝的結(jié)果，埋在韋德伯恩隕石中——一顆古老行星的殘余物和一種在自然界中看不到的新礦物。

The 7-ounce red and black meteorite was found in Victoria, Australia, in 1951, but planetary scientist Geoffrey Bonnin told Australian news outlet The Age that it’s actually from the molten core of a planet from millions of years ago.

這顆重7盎司的紅黑隕石于1951年在澳大利亞維多利亞州被發(fā)現(xiàn)，但行星科學(xué)家杰弗里·博寧(Geoffrey Bonnin)告訴澳大利亞新聞機構(gòu)《時代》雜志，它實際上來自數(shù)百萬年前一顆行星的熔巖核心。

“It got blasted apart,” Bonnin said in the interview.

“它被炸開了!”博寧在采訪中說。

Rodney Start, Museums Victoria

As a result of the explosion, the meteorite, which had an abundance of carbon inside, became heated. The carbon fused with the iron inside and formed a new mineral known as edscottite, named after Edward Scott, a pioneering cosmochemist from the University of Hawaii.

由于這次爆炸，隕石內(nèi)部含有豐富的碳，因而變熱了。碳與內(nèi)部的鐵融合，形成了一種新的礦物，被稱為edscottite，以夏威夷大學(xué)(University of Hawaii)宇宙化學(xué)家先驅(qū)愛德華·斯科特(Edward Scott)的名字命名。

Edscottite has been seen before, but only inside smelters, as iron is being turned into steel. It’s the fact that it has been seen in nature that has allowed researchers to give it its name.

埃斯考特鐵礦以前曾被發(fā)現(xiàn)過，但只是在冶煉廠內(nèi)部，因為鐵正在被轉(zhuǎn)變成鋼。事實上，它已經(jīng)在自然界中被發(fā)現(xiàn)，這使得研究人員給它起了個名字。

Bonnin added that “all rocks” are, to some degree, “a little bit radioactive.” He pointed out that as the planet exploded, it may have been hit by some other celestial object, causing a mass collision that sent an asteroid flying across the solar system.

波寧補充說，“所有的巖石”在某種程度上都有“一點放射性”。他指出，當(dāng)行星爆炸時，它可能受到其他天體的撞擊，造成了一次大規(guī)模碰撞，導(dǎo)致一顆小行星飛過太陽系。

From there, it entered the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and ultimately wound up on Earth.

從那里，它進入了火星和木星之間的小行星帶，最終到達了地球。

The research has been published in the scientific journal American Mineralogist.

這項研究已經(jīng)發(fā)表在科學(xué)雜志《美國礦物學(xué)家》上。