image: This image shows the edge of a slice of the Sutter's Mill meteorite. It is part of a series of images used to build an understanding of changes that might have occurred within the meteorite during heating upon atmospheric entry and passage. The exterior of the meteorite melted under brief exposure to temperatures of thousands of degrees, generating a brilliant light observed by witnesses. Reports of the path of the light across the sky subsequently assisted in the meteorite's recovery. This melted outer layer, called fusion crust, covers a complex interior that preserves dust, mineral aggregates and chondrules, which are small particles formed in the early solar system. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Dec. 21, 2012, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Peter Jenniskens at SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and colleagues was titled, "Radar-Enabled Recovery of the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, a Carbonaceous Chondrite Regolith Breccia." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Robert Beauford, University of Arkansas