Traces of an 11 million-year-old asteroid found in Australia

Previously unknown asteroid traces have been found in Australia. This was reported by Zamin.uz.

The information was provided by the scientific journal “Earth and Planetary Science Letters.” The discovery was made through reanalysis of museum samples of natural glass formed by cosmic impacts — tektites.

Experts identified a unique new type of tektite, approximately 11 million years old, which had not been recorded before. Scientists compared the new findings with the well-known tektites from the Australasian strewn field.

Previous samples are about 780 thousand years old and are widespread on Earth. The new findings are approximately 15 times older and occur only in a limited area.

This indicates that they resulted from a different cosmic event. At the same time, no definite crater from the impact has been found yet.

As researchers emphasized, studying the frequency and intensity of ancient asteroid impacts is important for assessing potential future risks and developing methods to protect the planet. It is worth noting that earlier this year, one of the largest asteroids safely passed Earth at a distance of about 800 thousand kilometers around the Moon.