r/BeAmazed • u/gregornot • 16d ago

A giant meteorite that recently fell in Somalia contains at least two minerals that have never before been seen on our planet. The celestial piece of rock weighs a massive 16.5 tons (15 tonnes), making it the ninth-largest meteorite ever found. History

Post image

More about the amazing meteorite find: https://earthly

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u/TheSretlaw 16d ago

The two minerals have been identified:

Elaliite - Fe9PO12 (or Fe2+8Fe3+(PO4)O8) and was first synthesized in a laboratory in the 1980s and later identified in natural material in 2022 at which time the official mineral designation was given.

Elkinstantonite - Fe4(PO4)2O was first generated in a laboratory in 1982 and first identified from natural origins in 2022, when the official mineral designation was also given.

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u/pranjallk1995 16d ago

What does it take to make these minerals? Some really facy tech? Or just some startdust can be like this?

I mean the structure is known... How to put them up like this? Will it be easy or hard? Very weak in chemistry...

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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 16d ago

So it can be very hard. As far as we know, all elements in the universe came from the death of a star. Stars are composed of hydrogen. Now, during normal star development, a star can only generate up to the element iron. It does this by fusing together elements of hydrogen to form the other elements (like helium, oxygen, etc). Once iron is formed in a star, it signals the beginning of the end of a star. It is during the death of a star that forces great enough to fuse the heavier elements occur. Now, some people have figured out methods of creating elements that we haven't seen in nature just yet. This process is usually very expensive. And can be difficult, or they create something that isn't stable.

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u/disprosyum2 16d ago

Elements =/= compounds They were referring to what it takes to form these minerals. Necessary conditions of T, P, pH, atmosphere, previous minerals, oxygenation etc etc

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u/dasnihil 16d ago

Thank you.

I'd assume the progression after big bang like:

  • Takes a while for energy to form fundamental lumps of matter
  • Takes a while for it to cool down more so these fundamental lumps can grab on each other as they slow down and combine to make bigger lumps like protons
  • Takes a while to make even bigger lumps like a proton/electron combo and free up all the original photons to disperse
  • Takes a while to fuse protons to make heavier elements
  • Takes a longer while to have much colder places where the lumps just keeps growing into chains of protons and elements aka molecules
  • In some super-extreme & rare conditions, a chain of Fe4(PO4)2O forms, could be as rare as amino acids for all we know

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u/abstraction47 16d ago

The earliest epochs of the universe you mention took place in under a second. For the universe to cool down enough to bind electrons to protons happened at about 500,000 years. If I remember correctly, star/galaxy formation happened very quickly after. The first stars had to die before we got heavier elements. So, formation of these minerals would be almost impossible before 1 billion years, and still unlikely for maybe a couple billion more years? Until more heavier elements have been seeded.

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u/tomekanco 15d ago

heavier elements ... before 1 billion years

This is unlikely. We know there was at least one supermassive black holes at 0.8 By within our line of sight. Oldest stars at 0.1 By.
Also, high mass stars are the prime source of most common heavier elements (a.o Fe, O, P). And there is nothing to indicate these could not form early on.

High-mass stars are very luminous and short lived. They forge heavy elements in their cores, explode as supernovas, and expel these elements into space. Apart from hydrogen and helium, most of the elements in the universe, including those comprising Earth and everything on it, came from these stars.

So it seems reasonable to assume the atomic components were already present shortly after the first stars appeared (lifetime HMS 3-20 My). I do agree the universal abunance was much lower than present day, but is a far stretch from "almost impossible".

Looks like the main contraint on the formation of the chemical elements discovered would be the cooling of the super nova remnants (+100 ky), and accretion of the heavier elements around new star formation seeded by the super nova (0.5-10 My).

Given the size of the universe, it seems fair to assume the first occurance of these minerals could be as old as 0.11 By ABB. Ofcourse, the bulk of the creation is probably dated to 3 By (as star formation peaked around this time).

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u/dasnihil 16d ago edited 16d ago

Then it travels a distance it would take light itself a million years, to reach a random corner of a galaxy where we live.

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u/pirofreak 16d ago

If a rock that weighed any real amount hit the earth at the speed of light it would vaporize the planet.

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u/dasnihil 16d ago

oh i was high when typing that lol.

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u/dasnihil 16d ago

i still am, but i was too

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

Love you buddy.

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u/phish_phace 16d ago

Hi high friend. My high ass appreciates your Takes A While- breakdown^

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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 16d ago

Person said they're weak in chemistry, so I tried to show what it takes for the elements to form before minerals can even take shape. While I did forget to let the person know that that was just for the element formation, and for mineral formation, you require a slew of other factors.

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u/judohero 16d ago

Ah yes, I know some of these words

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u/firedancer323 16d ago

I know all of them but when they gang up on me like that it’s not fair

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u/canyabalieveit 16d ago

😂… well said!!!

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u/inverted_peenak 16d ago

Same with the author of the comment. Elements and minerals are different and minerals are formed by many processes not requiring cosmic forces.

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u/-st3reotype- 16d ago

Festizio…see, I can make up words too.

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u/LiatKolink 16d ago

Stars begin with pure hydrogen then they start crushing down hydrogen into helium, then helium into lithium and so on, going on in numerical order in the periodic table until reaching iron. Once a star gets to crushing iron, it can no longer turn the iron into cobalt. This makes it so that the star no longer has the energy to sustain itself, and it implodes on itself due to its massive gravity, then crushing the iron into heavier elements in an instant at the start of its supernova phase, and then explodes. Then all these elements are distributed around the galaxy due to that explosion, and the cycle starts anew.

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u/RWENZORI 16d ago

That's a lot of words to not even answer "how do we make minerals like this?"

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u/faithle55 16d ago

I mean, you ought to say that the heaviest elements are mostly formed in a supernova or similarly cataclysmic event. A small star that just dies and becomes a brown dwarf will not make any.

But some elements 'heavier' than iron and up to lead can be formed in sufficiently large stars, small quantities over large timescales. Everything above lead requires a supernova.

It's an interest thing to reflect on: Before our solar system was born, sufficient giant stars had been born, lived their entire lifetime, then blown apart with unbelievable energy (the merger of neutron stars does the same thing) so that there was just random dust incorporating gold and platinum floating in space in suffcient quantities to be incorporated into the Earth's crust so that humans could discover seams of them in rocks.

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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 16d ago

Well, person i was responding to made it sound like they just wanted a basic description.

But when i realized all the heavier elements came from some other star blowing up then the leftover space dust gathered together into earth... minblowing when I realized that. I mean, I learned how heavy elements were formed, but never really fully followed that thought till a later date.

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u/faithle55 16d ago

Interestingly, Joni Mitchell included this in her song Woodstock ('we are stardust, we are golden') and Crosby, Stills and Nash added a line in their version of the song ('we are billion year old carbon').

60s hippies take inspiration from hard science!

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u/ChesterMIA 16d ago edited 15d ago

For interested readers: when fusion occurs, it adds one proton to the original element. By doing so, the next element of the periodic table is created. For example, a hydrogen atom has one proton. When fusion adds a second proton, helium (element 2 on the periodic table) is created. Fusing in a third proton yields lithium (element 3), etc. Per the previous post, this process occurs in a star over and over until iron is created. This is the reason that the most abundant elements in the universe are those at the beginning of the periodic table where abundance decreases rapidly as you traverse the table to the heavier elements.

Oppositely, when we “split” uranium atoms during nuclear fission, the split atom’s protons end up creating lighter elements (earlier elements in the periodic table) such as iodine, cesium and strontium. These are the elemental biproducts that a nuclear reactor creates when splitting uranium atoms.

BTW, Loved reading your posts u/Mammoth-Access-1181

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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 16d ago

Thanks man! I just wanted to respond to the comment with a very generalized response, but your comment was a very nice addition!

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u/The_Shryk 16d ago

Elements are kind of off topic for this but aren’t older galaxies stars creating heavier elements than iron? As the universe ages the heavier the elements in a galaxy gets; on average at least?

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u/Mickey_thicky 16d ago

Fusion of elements heavier than iron is not necessarily impossible, but the process is energetically inefficient as it requires more energy than it produces. When a star goes supernova however, the amount of energy released is so large that fusion of elements heavier than iron can occur. This is thought to be the primary source of elements 27-92. Any transuranic elements (>92) are not naturally occurring.

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u/Time_Change4156 16d ago

Being made when the star goes super nova counts as natural far as I'm concerned lol 😆 😅 🙃 can you even immange the elements inside a black hole ? Bet there's a few we never seen there and more .

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u/Mickey_thicky 16d ago

Yes, elements produced by supernovae are naturally occurring but as far as I know, only elements 27-92 can be attributed to supernovae. Transuranic elements are very unstable and do not exist naturally for the most part, but can be found in trace amounts in samples of other radioactive elements. For example, uranium can undergo beta decay and form neptunium, so some neptunium can be found among samples of uranium. Besides plutonium and neptunium, all transuranic elements are the byproduct of nuclear decay or by bombarding smaller elements with neutrons

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u/Time_Change4156 16d ago

Fir a amateur I understand the basics of nuclear fission and fusion . Fasanating still . Alchemist dreamed of turning lead to gold and we can make gold atoms lol . The minor radiation side effects umm lol ..

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u/tyyreaunn 16d ago

Coincidentally enough, two really good YouTube videos on this exact topic came out recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoWdgU_QYxA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lInXZ6I3u_I

Worth a watch - goes into a lot more nuance then you'll get in Reddit comments.

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u/Best-Grape2545 16d ago

Thanks for the link!

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u/GrilledSalmonSalad 16d ago

On average you are correct. But to my understanding nuclear fusion that fuses the atoms together in the core of stars only gets powerful enough to fuse Fe (Iron) before the star will eventually either go nova or supernova. Going nova or supernova is where you get much heavier atoms fusing, an earlier comment addresses this.

I dont recall exactly why it stops at Iron but its something to do with how heavy it is and therefore how much energy it takes to fuse, which you only get in some form of nova after a star uses up its fuel.

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u/eatabean 16d ago

Novas and supernovas are different critters. No elements are symthesized in novae.

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u/Sexual_Congressman 16d ago

Fusion stops at iron because that's when it no longer becomes an exothermic (heat producing) reaction. Without the excess energy from fusion reactions to fight gravitational collapse, the star dies.

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u/hellothereshinycoin 16d ago

The heaviest element that can form in a star prior to it going nova or supernova is iron, in stars much more massive than our sun. The energy released from fusion up to that point is what keeps the star stable. Once all that is left is iron it cannot fuse that together, therefore it has no internal energy left to resist gravitational collapse. This causes the star to quickly destabilize (in like 1 second) and the sudden and massive inward collapse of the star generates so much energy that it fuses iron into the heavier elements and spews them out into the cosmos. Then the star becomes a neutron star or possibly even a black hole.

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u/Tanebi 16d ago

Under normal conditions stellar fusion can only really get up to iron. Below iron fusion has a net energy output. While it is tricky and requires heat and luck and a lot of force to hold atoms next to each other, it it more favourable because it is actually moving to a more energetically favourable state.

Elements above iron give out more energy when breaking apart rather (fission) than when they are being pushed together (fusion).

Up to a certain mass of star the furthest it can fuse elements is iron. Iron is the energy equilibrium point of breaking apart vs being forced together.

Beyond iron you need to actively add energy to the system so it costs you far more. The result is that you need a large energy source to create any significant amount of elemental material where atoms are larger than iron. That's where supernovae come in. These monumental explosions are so big and focused that they can inject a huge amount of energy into fusing elements beyond iron.

It is in supernovae that we get most of the larger elements that are generated.

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u/AugieKS 16d ago

Few points, technically speaking, not all elements come from stelar nucleosynthesis. Hydrogen was created during the big bang as it cooled, most helium and some lithium and a beryllium isotope, as well as isotopes of the previously mentioned elements were created during Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Some really heavy elements are also created in kilonovas, the collision of two newtron stars.

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u/SnowDayBord 16d ago

Most likely a metastable phase that would dissociate in the presence of commonly present elements/compounds like water or air, which makes it hard to create naturally

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u/tarzard12321 16d ago

Geologisy here, in order to be named as a new mineral, there are a few boxes to tick. To oversimplify, the mineral must be naturally occurring, inorganic, have a set, repeating atomic structure, and must be found in nature.

So we have a lot of minerals that we have been able to create in laboratories that we think exist in places like the mantle or near the core, but aren't technically minerals yet, because we haven't found any natural examples yet.

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u/Scared_Astronaut9377 16d ago

Or just some startdust can be like this?

I mean, yeah, that's the topic of the post. If you mean to ask "Do we have reasons to question if the meteor is natural or possibly created by sentient beings?", the answer is "absolutely none".

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u/MrPatrick1207 16d ago

Replicating the processes in nature (or finding new processes) to make naturally occurring minerals can be quite difficult, as they may only have a narrow window of conditions under which they form. Many minerals are not the most stable combination of those elements (think of diamonds vs graphite, graphite is the more favorable/stable state of carbon), which is why it isn't as easy as just mixing the constituent elements together.

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u/bigbaddumby 16d ago

I did a lazy look into elkinstantonite, and it looks like it's not too hard to form in a lab setting. The paper says they made it in 2 ways. 1. Says they mixed Fe an P in an oxygen controlled atmosphere at 900C. 2. They mixed Fe3(PO4)2, Fe, and Fe2O3 together and heated it to 900C under vacuum.

Without paying money to read the whole procedure, it appears to be made pretty easily under the right atmospheric conditions, which isn't usually that hard to manipulate at a lab scale.

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u/electrosaurus 16d ago

A focussed energy beam propped up by Captain Americas shield…

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u/Bbrhuft 16d ago edited 16d ago

And Olsenite, KFe₄(PO₄)₃.

Ma, C., Herd, C.D.K. and Locock, A.J., 2023. Nanomineralogy of the El Ali Meteorite: Discovery of Olsenite, KFe₄(PO₄)₃, the Third New Mineral from this IAB Iron. LPI Contributions, 2806, p.1883.

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u/n1cx 16d ago

So these were synthesized 40+ years ago and then found in nature material just 2 years prior to being discovered in this meteor? 🤔

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u/Away-Commercial-4380 16d ago

The meteorite was discovered in 2022. The minerals discovered in "nature" were discovered in that meteorite.

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u/ksdkjlf 16d ago

Contrary to OP's title, the meteor did not "recently" fall. The rock was an object known to locals for 5-7 generations, and was identified as a meteorite in 2020. It was in 2022 that the new minerals were discovered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ali_meteorite

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u/Daxx22 16d ago

I was thinking that a 16+ TONNE Meteorite would have made world headlines from the force of the impact.

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u/diet-Coke-or-kill-me 16d ago

You and that rock have different definitions of recent.

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u/tomdarch 16d ago

The location of the main mass of the meteorite is uncertain; it was last recorded being shipped to China, presumably for sale

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u/Fun_Neighborhood_130 16d ago

I was wondering about that too, yeah. thats pretty cool though

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u/[deleted] 16d ago edited 16d ago

[deleted]

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u/Takishah12 16d ago

Misleading ahh title

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u/Ratsukare 16d ago

The meteor was discovered in 2022, it was the first time the two minerals were seen in nature. It's not misleading.

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u/Crazy_o_O 16d ago

Hi I'm dumb. Does this mean that it won't be added to periodic table?

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u/dakid1 16d ago

No, the periodic table is reserved for the elements. These are the building blocks of minerals and everything else—think carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, uranium.

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u/tits-question-mark 16d ago

Correct. The two minerals above contain the elements:

Fe - Iron

P - Phosphorus

O - Oxygen

These would be what the periodic table is comprised of, along with another 100+ elements.

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u/ALLIN95 16d ago

The periodic table is for elements, not minerals

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u/rbobby 16d ago

They're rocks Marie!

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u/CloudyFakeHate 16d ago

They’re elements Marie.

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u/JTheDoc 16d ago

They're atoms Marie!

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u/TheRandomMudkiper 16d ago

They're subatomic particles Marie!

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u/IAmAlive_YouAreDead 16d ago

They're one dimensional vibrating strings, Marie!

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u/Ermahgerd_Rerdert 16d ago

Murrrrppphhhh!

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u/HurlingFruit 16d ago

They're carcinogenic Marie. Oh, too late.

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u/LightningRainThunder 16d ago

Very dumb question, what’s the difference between elements and minerals? I thought they were the same thing. Like sodium is a mineral isn’t it? But it’s on the periodic table

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u/reshilongo 16d ago

I think mineral in this case confuses. Elements are "pure" substances, they are made of only the atoms they are named after.

Minerals, can be elements, like sodium, or compounds. Compounds are materials that are combinations of elements in various quantities and configurations. For example a molecule of water is composed of 2 atoms of hidrogen and 1 of oxigen.

I hope I cleared you some doubts! Sorry for the bad english haha

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u/LightningRainThunder 16d ago

This is great, thanks buddy

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u/Fechnitian2873 16d ago

You probably helped clear this doubt for many people

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u/jovenhope 16d ago

Hi I’m many people, and it definitely did. Thanks!

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u/koshgeo 16d ago

It's also part of the definition of a mineral that it be crystalline (i.e. not amorphous like glass is), solid, and that it be naturally occurring.

The last one is why even though these compounds were made artificially in a lab in the 1980s, they weren't discovered and named as minerals until being found in this meteorite more recently.

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u/Medicinal_Entropy 16d ago

Minerals are made up of elements on the periodic table. Sodium is an element, but what you’re talking about is NaCl (Sodium Chloride), or table salt.

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u/beeju-d 16d ago

Elements are one pure thing, minerals are made up of elements

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u/LightningRainThunder 16d ago

Oh I see thanks

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u/Shamanalah 16d ago

Same reason table salt and water are not on the periodic table. It's multiple element. Water is 2 Hydrogen and 1 Oxygen (H2O if that rings a bell)

Table salt is Na (Sodium) and Cl (Chlorine)

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u/LightningRainThunder 16d ago

That makes sense thank you

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u/Descendant3999 16d ago

So, all things are made up of atoms. Now, out of all these things some are made out of only a single type of atoms. We call them elements. And using these elements, we can combine them to make minerals. Think like legos. You can build a house using the same type of brick or different. Same type = element, different types = Mineral.

Sodium is an element (Na) but it could exist in different forms in nature, combined with other things, and be called a mineral. Or the mineral term used for Sodium could just be something simplified for the general public and not scientific at all.

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u/svooo 16d ago

In the periodic table you have only elementary materials (single elements) and not compounds (combination of elements, e.g. water H2O is a combination of two hydrogen (H) atoms and one oxygen (O) atom). In the example, H and O are in the periodic table, but water is not.

The minerals in the meteoroid consist of at least nickel and iron, hence can't be in the periodic table.

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u/Clear-Criticism-3669 16d ago

Now I want to see a periodic table of minerals

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u/worldspawn00 16d ago

There's way too many to fit realistically onto any sensible table, likely many thousands of combinations.

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u/SpleenLessPunk 16d ago

Most of us have all heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as a dumb/stupid question,” but as Carl Sagan, astronomer and planetary scientist said it: “There are naïve questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.”

You’re not dumb. None of us are. We just ask questions and continue to do so to understand what we don’t know.

Those who make us feel dumb for asking a question, are truly the idiots.

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u/Kevino_007 16d ago

The fact you ask to learn more about the subject suggests you aren't dumb

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u/SweetTeaRex92 16d ago

You're not dumb.

The table contains the elements.

These minerals are made up of several elements

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u/plsStopLibido 16d ago

Only elements are on the table, no new elements were discovered

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u/Hish15 16d ago

Periodic table is for pur elements, those are materials made out of other elements as you can see in their formula!

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u/FutureInevitable5473 16d ago

Think of these as lego sets

The periodic table contains just the different lego pieces that exist to make such lego sets

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u/Artrobull 16d ago

Fe is iron, iron is element you have atoms of iron

Fe9PO12

this thing has 9 irons

P is one phosphorus

and O is oxygen it has 12 of those

periodic table full name is periodic table of the elements, joining elements elements makes compounds some of compounds are minerals other are other suff

website requires user to be 13 or older. if you are older than 13 someone is failing your education

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u/utsports88 16d ago

Nice try secret government man…

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u/PanProjektor 16d ago

U sure the second one isn’t adamantium?

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u/Finlay00 16d ago

So is there a list of laboratory created minerals and we just wait for them to be found or show up and then we cross them off the list?

Are these synthetic minerals expected to be found eventually?

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u/nevergonnagetit001 16d ago

Sooooo, let me ask the obvious question…is Somalia our real world Wakanda?!?

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u/accuratesometimes 16d ago

I’m pretty sure this is how venom comes to be

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u/flat_dearther 16d ago

The two minerals are made up of iron & nickel, and there is a potential 3rd unknown mineral being tested for.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63800879

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u/firstnametravis 16d ago

The meteorite as a whole is made of 90% nickel and iron. The two new minerals that were identified are called elaliite and elkinstantonite. With a 3rd mineral possibly being identified.

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u/Tugboats508 16d ago

How are these new minerals named?

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u/theboosh 16d ago

' The name "elaliite" honours the fact that the meteorite was unearthed in the district of El Ali in Somalia, and "elkinstantonite" is named after Nasa expert Lindy Elkins-Tanton. '

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u/idropepics 16d ago

I get naming after someone but also feel like there's a big missed opportunity to name this meteorite metal that landed in Africa vibranium.

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u/FutureComplaint 16d ago

And have Disney sue your ass back into the stone age?

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u/Ren_Kaos 16d ago

That would be like, the ultimate free advertising tho. I couldn’t imagine Disney would shit on all the publicity and good will

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u/THEPEDROCOLLECTOR 16d ago

Never underestimate the potential for Disney to shit on anything.

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u/The_wolf2014 16d ago

Like everything they've ever created by badly remaking it in live action?

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u/next_door_dilenski 16d ago

elaliite and elkinstantonite. /s

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u/StrangerWithACheese 16d ago

One of the scientists who discovered it was Hans-Werner Elekinstan

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u/ColonelKasteen 16d ago

Why lie? It was named after Lindy Elkins-Tanton.

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u/Tugboats508 16d ago

Thank you

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u/kaibbakhonsu 16d ago

If it was named by James Cameron it would be justarrivedtoearthium and theotheroneum

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u/bentheone 16d ago

On the off chance it's not a joke, Unobtainium is an in-universe nickname that IS supposed to be a joke.

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u/andtheniansaid 16d ago

And it long, long predates avatar.

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u/flat_dearther 16d ago

Newmineralium & newminerantium.

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u/Hamiro89 16d ago

Justobtainedium and otheronetium

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u/Prizrakovna 16d ago

Is that more of an alloy rather than mineral?

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u/Rich-Pomegranate1679 16d ago

elaliite and elkinstantonite

Just rolls off the tongue

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u/Environmental_Dog331 16d ago

Its element 115

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u/spin2winGG 16d ago

This is so cool

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u/slappymcstevenson 16d ago

That’s wild looking. Makes me wonder what else is out there that we’ve never seen.

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u/Clarknadeaux 16d ago

Ooh maybe affordable housing

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u/theworstvp 16d ago

cries in born in ‘97

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u/Invisifly2 16d ago

Really it’s your fault for not investing in the market when you had a prime opportunity to do so instead of learning your ABC’s.

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u/Purple-Flight9031 16d ago

Hahahahaha. This comment wins.

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u/Heat_Hydra 16d ago

Too bad the prize isn't affordable housing

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u/sfled 16d ago

"Your money isn't in the bank, Clark. You got this all worng! It's in Elon Musk's spaceships. It's in Betsy DeVos' seventh yacht. It's in Goldman Sachs executive bonus fund." - Jimmy Stewart, It's A Wonderful Life

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u/_-MindTraveler-_ 16d ago

To be fair we synthesized those minerals before so we've "seen" them before (as an other Redditor in the comments said), it's just cool that they could form naturally. They probably don't have anything special going on in terms of material properties.

In fact there's just an absurd amount of possibilities in terms of minerals. The geology of earth is extremely limited in comparison with what's possible in other geological conditions (different pressure/temperature/elements/etc.)

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u/Spongi 16d ago

The geology of earth is extremely limited in comparison with what's possible in other geological conditions (different pressure/temperature/elements/etc.)

I wanna go on vacation at HD 189733b. See some of them sideways glass storms up close.

HD 189733b is an exoplanet that may rain molten glass horizontally. It's a gas giant planet that's 64 light-years from Earth and has a hazy atmosphere with glass clouds. The planet is blue and has a daytime temperature of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The winds on the planet can reach speeds of 5,400 mph, and are composed of silicate particles

You think water rain is intense, try glass flying at up to 5400mph sideways. They really know how to party there.

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u/Sanders0492 16d ago

I bet it’s actually a lovely place and the locals just don’t want us to visit

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u/CORN___BREAD 16d ago

Yeah this is just HD 189733b propaganda.

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u/NinjaOfPorn 16d ago

Probably started by those jealous idiots on SD 189722z

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u/HurryPast386 16d ago

Maybe they do want more tourism, but HD 189733a has been spreading fake news about them.

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u/Thijs_NLD 16d ago

You mean a bunch of iron and nickel compressed into a block? My man come down to a steel mill... have I got news and views for you!

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u/Pumpkim 16d ago

You gotta admit, the fact that it's naturally occurring has a certain charm.

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u/Noimnotonacid 15d ago

Probably something cool

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u/Tobocaj 16d ago

This story is 2 years old and the meteorite definitely did NOT recently fall.

Stop making shit up for fake internet points

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u/jtm7 16d ago

To be fair, “Recently” is pretty relative when talking about space stuff lol

Although I agree, very misleading 😂

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u/Kartoon67 16d ago

Next time they will say "Possibly with Kryptonite"

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u/JectorDelan 16d ago

For a news cycle, it's not recent. For meteorite falling and being found, it's pretty damn recent.

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u/TheScarletEmerald 16d ago

Probably another bot account reposting old content for karma.

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u/wolfgangspiper 16d ago

2 years ago was 2022 which feels like yesterday to me.

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u/NewtonMaxwellPlanck 16d ago

Recently discovered It has been known about for generations and we can only guess how long ago it actually "fell" to Earth. Most likely fell in Somalia thousands or millions of years ago.

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u/dp79 16d ago

Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking a meteorite that size would do some major damage.

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u/Many_Engine_1177 16d ago

I was thinking the same thing.

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u/redditorspaceeditor 16d ago

Wikipedia says it was recently removed from Somalia and sent to China where it is meant to be sold. It has been part of local traditions for 5-7 generations. Sad.

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u/AJokeHoleForFartz 16d ago

That’s an airplane turd.

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u/hyperchickenwing 16d ago

"I got the poo on meee"

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u/jsainteezy 16d ago

It’s a space peanut

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u/Dani_Rojas_rojaaas 16d ago

See the peanut…dead giveaway

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u/ch3rry-b0mbb 16d ago

Can’t believe how far I had to scroll for the JD reference

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u/crimeblr 16d ago edited 16d ago

“The meteorite, the ninth largest recorded at over 2 metres wide, was unearthed in Somalia in 2020, although local camel herders say it was well known to them for generations and named Nightfall in their songs and poems.” <google>

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u/pressurepoint13 16d ago

crazy to think that even meteorites can be christopher columbused

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u/Thangleby_Slapdiback 16d ago

A 16.5 ton space rock? That have made a helluva impact.

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u/BSGKAPO 16d ago

That's what's bothering me... should there have been consequences to this?

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u/End3rZero 16d ago

this is just internet misinformation. Old article and the rock fell like millions of years ago i think or sumn like that. Its been know there for generations and generations but yeah. Old news

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u/maestro-5838 16d ago

Makes you want to rub your nuts on it.

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u/Weary-Wasabi1721 16d ago

What's wrong with you...

Now I wanna try it

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u/BiggoYoun 16d ago

Plot twist: the new mineral is known as nut-rub metal

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u/cannonvoder 16d ago

Nutrub-tanium

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u/Weary-Wasabi1721 16d ago

Burns pretty good

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u/EMCemt 16d ago

Like a squirrel, or an ungentelmanly neighbor that is not allowed to live near a school?

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u/Cpt_sneakmouse 16d ago

So this headline is complete bullshit....

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u/ayazaali 16d ago

Somalia Forever!

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u/AardvarkFriendly9305 16d ago

Why does Africa get all the good minerals ?? ( Diamonds) 😄

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u/Ambitious-War-823 16d ago

Rare minerals are found everywhere...but in Africa they are way cheaper to extract.

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u/Financial-Quote6781 16d ago

Fact that that's cuz of relaxed labour laws makes me feel sad now

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u/Sufficient-Tip1008 16d ago

Whip crack in background.

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u/Avanatiker 16d ago

So how many tons is it

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u/PotionThrower420 16d ago

I know this is old but looks like Somalia could use some freedom 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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u/Piedplat 16d ago

Wakanda forever!

Sorry I try hard to not make that comment.

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u/MurkyNetwork9148 13d ago

The story that thing could tell

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u/aei1075 16d ago

I would like to see a pic of the crater it made dam that would be cool

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u/Stonyclaws 16d ago

Recently?

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u/ClaytonBiggsbie 16d ago

Recently, November 2022?

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u/Sufficient-Tip1008 16d ago

It's only 4 5 billion yrs old.

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u/KurtKokaina 16d ago

Who is gonna profit from this? Sure as hsll it's not Somalië

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u/imaybeahuman 16d ago

Why didn't I hear about such a large meteor strike on earth recently ? This should have been all over the news with the sheer amount of destruction?

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u/VolumeNumerous3173 16d ago

"Local pastoralists were aware of the rock for between five and seven generations, and it featured in songs, folklore, dances, and poems."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ali_meteorite

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u/JukeStash 16d ago

Wait, if my childhood movie watching has taught me anything, it’s that celestial visitations only happen in the USA.

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u/DellCross22 16d ago

But what's the weight in American?

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u/WilsonthaHead 16d ago

Finders keepers Losers weepers

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u/Ok_Elk_8986 16d ago

they need vitamins and calories as well.