Man’s Years-Long Hope That Rock Was gold Yields Astronomical Finding: It’s a Rare Meteorite
Maryborough, Victoria, Australia – A Victorian man’s decades-long hunch that a heavy rock found on his property might be gold has proven spectacularly correct – though not in the way he expected. The rock,kept for years,has been confirmed as a meaningful meteorite,the second-largest chondritic mass ever recorded in the Australian state of Victoria.
The meteorite weighs in at an impressive 6.5 kilograms (14.3 pounds),surpassed only by a 55-kilogram specimen identified in 2003. Discovered near Maryborough, it’s only the 17th meteorite found in Victoria, a region far more renowned for its gold rushes. “This is only the 17th meteorite found in Victoria, whereas there’s been thousands of gold nuggets found,” geologist Dermot henry told Channel 10 News. “Looking at the chain of events, it’s quite, you might say, astronomical it being discovered at all.”
The meteorite is a barred olivine chondrite, containing rounded formations called chondrules – ancient grains formed in the early solar system. analysis, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, confirms its extraterrestrial origin.
This discovery echoes other remarkable stories of delayed recognition. In 2018,a meteorite went unnoticed for 80 years,serving as a doorstop before its true nature was revealed. Recent advancements in meteorite research have also allowed scientists to trace the origins of over 90 percent of meteorites back to their parent bodies in space, offering new insights into the solar system’s formation.
Experts now suggest it might be a good time for others to examine unusual rocks on their property – a potential ”gold mine” of a different kind could be waiting to be discovered.
