Meteorite fragments that fell in a small town in England excite astronomers.



This is because meteorites are made of rare substances that retain their chemical properties from about 4.6 billion years ago, the generation of the solar system.



Perhaps it contains clues about the origin of life, scholars expect.



On the 8th (local time), according to the BBC and CNN of the United States, on the evening of the 28th of last month on Sunday, a meteor burning across the sky was observed in the southern part of England.



This'shooting star' was also captured by a special camera installed by the British Museum of Natural History, and the information contained in the camera was used to determine the fall point.



Some pieces of the meteorite fell on the driveway in front of the home of a small town resident named Winchcomb in Gloucestershire, England.



Scholars confirmed this as an actual meteorite fragment, after which a search team was dispatched to find other fragments.



There were also reports of discovery from nearby residents.



Up to now, a total of 300-400 g of meteorite fragments have been secured and are being kept at the Natural History Museum.



Meteorites are noteworthy because they are made of carbonaceous chondrite.



It's the most primordial yet unpolluted in the solar system, giving you an understanding of the early history of the solar system and the origin of life on Earth.




Dr Ashley King of the Natural History Museum explained, "Carbon chondrites are special in that they are, in simple terms, a building material left over from the building of the solar system."



"Most contain simple organic matter and amino acids, and some contain minerals from water," he said. "In other words, there are all the ingredients to understand the process by which life-saving planets like Earth are made."



Richard Greenwood Open University researcher, who was the first scholar to identify a piece of a meteorite that fell on a Witchcom driveway, recalled, "When I saw the piece that the landlord put in a plastic bag, my legs were relaxed. It was a very special meteorite.



According to the Natural History Museum, there are currently about 65,000 meteorites that have been confirmed to have fallen to Earth.



Of these, only 1,206 have actually been observed to fall, and 51 are more rare with carbonaceous chondrites.



The museum explained that the pieces collected this time are similar to those taken by the recent Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa2 from the asteroid Ryugu, about 340 million kilometers away from Earth.



(Photo = Courtesy of the British Museum of Natural History, Yonhap News)