Latest news with #HadrienDevillepoix
Herald Sun
28-05-2025
- Science
- Herald Sun
Scientists unearth rare meteorite fragments in remote Western Australia
Don't miss out on the headlines from Environment. Followed categories will be added to My News. A team of scientists has uncovered two rare meteorite fragments on remote salt flats in outback Western Australia, days after a fireball lit up the skies above Perth and surrounding regions on Mother's Day. Researchers from Curtin University, part of the Desert Fireball Network, traced the meteorite's dramatic descent to Lake Hope, a barren expanse roughly seven hours east of Perth, using hi-tech weather modelling and an extensive network of sky-monitoring cameras. Planetary scientist Hadrien Devillepoix told 9News the team used the advanced weather modelling to predict how the meteorite would drift in the wind once it had slowed down enough. Experts have scoured hundreds of kilometres of salt flats deep in the West Australian outback to find pieces of meteorite that lit up the night sky over Perth and other parts of the state. Picture: 9News A fragment of the four-billion-year-old meteorite. Picture: 9 News They then drove for hours through rugged terrain and dense bush before trekking on foot more than seven kilometres across the lake's salt flats. As the team trekked across the salt flats, 9News footage captured the moment team member Mia Walker raised her arms in triumph and shouted, 'We found a meteorite!' 'I started running and it was so special, I saw this hole in the lake and it only took, you know, just a little tug to pull it out,' Ms Walker said. 'It's very special, it's very exciting to get to find one of these.' Team member Mia Walker was overjoyed by the discovery, describing it as 'very special'. Picture: 9News Shortly after their initial discovery, the team struck gold again, uncovering a second fragment not far from the first. Among the finds was a significant chunk of space rock, one of the largest the team has recovered to date. 'Here's a piece of space rock that's been travelling the solar system for four and a half billion years,' Dr Devillepoix said. 'And now it's in our hands and we can use it for science, that's so exciting.' Planetary scientist Hadrien Devillepoix told 9News the team used advanced weather modelling to find the meteorite. Picture: 9News He said rain was forecast and the salt flats could be submerged 'in a matter of days.' 'That could have been lost forever,' he said. The meteorite fragments will now undergo detailed analysis in a laboratory to determine their composition and pinpoint their origin in the solar system. Originally published as 'We found a meteorite!': Joy as rare space rocks discovered in WA outback
West Australian
27-05-2025
- Science
- West Australian
‘We found a meteorite!': Joy as rare space rocks discovered in WA outback
A team of scientists has uncovered two rare meteorite fragments on remote salt flats in outback Western Australia, days after a fireball lit up the skies above Perth and surrounding regions on Mother's Day. Researchers from Curtin University, part of the Desert Fireball Network, traced the meteorite's dramatic descent to Lake Hope, a barren expanse roughly seven hours east of Perth, using hi-tech weather modelling and an extensive network of sky-monitoring cameras. Planetary scientist Hadrien Devillepoix told 9News the team used the advanced weather modelling to predict how the meteorite would drift in the wind once it had slowed down enough. They then drove for hours through rugged terrain and dense bush before trekking on foot more than seven kilometres across the lake's salt flats. As the team trekked across the salt flats, 9News footage captured the moment team member Mia Walker raised her arms in triumph and shouted, 'We found a meteorite!' 'I started running and it was so special, I saw this hole in the lake and it only took, you know, just a little tug to pull it out,' Ms Walker said. 'It's very special, it's very exciting to get to find one of these.' Shortly after their initial discovery, the team struck gold again, uncovering a second fragment not far from the first. Among the finds was a significant chunk of space rock, one of the largest the team has recovered to date. 'Here's a piece of space rock that's been travelling the solar system for four and a half billion years,' Dr Devillepoix said. 'And now it's in our hands and we can use it for science, that's so exciting.' He said rain was forecast and the salt flats could be submerged 'in a matter of days.' 'That could have been lost forever,' he said. The meteorite fragments will now undergo detailed analysis in a laboratory to determine their composition and pinpoint their origin in the solar system.
Perth Now
27-05-2025
- Science
- Perth Now
Rare space rocks discovered in WA outback
A team of scientists has uncovered two rare meteorite fragments on remote salt flats in outback Western Australia, days after a fireball lit up the skies above Perth and surrounding regions on Mother's Day. Researchers from Curtin University, part of the Desert Fireball Network, traced the meteorite's dramatic descent to Lake Hope, a barren expanse roughly seven hours east of Perth, using hi-tech weather modelling and an extensive network of sky-monitoring cameras. Planetary scientist Hadrien Devillepoix told 9News the team used the advanced weather modelling to predict how the meteorite would drift in the wind once it had slowed down enough. Experts have scoured hundreds of kilometres of salt flats deep in the West Australian outback to find pieces of meteorite that lit up the night sky over Perth and other parts of the state. 9News Credit: Channel 9 A fragment of the four-billion-year-old meteorite. 9 News Credit: Channel 9 They then drove for hours through rugged terrain and dense bush before trekking on foot more than seven kilometres across the lake's salt flats. As the team trekked across the salt flats, 9News footage captured the moment team member Mia Walker raised her arms in triumph and shouted, 'We found a meteorite!' 'I started running and it was so special, I saw this hole in the lake and it only took, you know, just a little tug to pull it out,' Ms Walker said. 'It's very special, it's very exciting to get to find one of these.' Team member Mia Walker was overjoyed by the discovery, describing it as 'very special'. 9News Credit: Channel 9 Shortly after their initial discovery, the team struck gold again, uncovering a second fragment not far from the first. Among the finds was a significant chunk of space rock, one of the largest the team has recovered to date. 'Here's a piece of space rock that's been travelling the solar system for four and a half billion years,' Dr Devillepoix said. 'And now it's in our hands and we can use it for science, that's so exciting.' Planetary scientist Hadrien Devillepoix told 9News the team used advanced weather modelling to find the meteorite. 9News Credit: Channel 9 He said rain was forecast and the salt flats could be submerged 'in a matter of days.' 'That could have been lost forever,' he said. The meteorite fragments will now undergo detailed analysis in a laboratory to determine their composition and pinpoint their origin in the solar system.
News.com.au
27-05-2025
- General
- News.com.au
‘We found a meteorite!': Joy as rare space rocks discovered in WA outback
A team of scientists has uncovered two rare meteorite fragments on remote salt flats in outback Western Australia, days after a fireball lit up the skies above Perth and surrounding regions on Mother's Day. Researchers from Curtin University, part of the Desert Fireball Network, traced the meteorite's dramatic descent to Lake Hope, a barren expanse roughly seven hours east of Perth, using hi-tech weather modelling and an extensive network of sky-monitoring cameras. Planetary scientist Hadrien Devillepoix told 9News the team used the advanced weather modelling to predict how the meteorite would drift in the wind once it had slowed down enough. They then drove for hours through rugged terrain and dense bush before trekking on foot more than seven kilometres across the lake's salt flats. As the team trekked across the salt flats, 9News footage captured the moment team member Mia Walker raised her arms in triumph and shouted, 'We found a meteorite!' 'I started running and it was so special, I saw this hole in the lake and it only took, you know, just a little tug to pull it out,' Ms Walker said. 'It's very special, it's very exciting to get to find one of these.' Shortly after their initial discovery, the team struck gold again, uncovering a second fragment not far from the first. Among the finds was a significant chunk of space rock, one of the largest the team has recovered to date. 'Here's a piece of space rock that's been travelling the solar system for four and a half billion years,' Dr Devillepoix said. 'And now it's in our hands and we can use it for science, that's so exciting.' He said rain was forecast and the salt flats could be submerged 'in a matter of days.' 'That could have been lost forever,' he said.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists finally answer one of space's biggest mysteries which could answer how life on Earth began
Scientists have finally found an answer to one of space's biggest mysteries, and the answer could even lead to finally figuring out how life on earth began. When it comes to exploring space, every time scientists uncover or learn one thing, it does seem to answer 100 more questions. This time, however, the burning space question is not 'Why did they send Katy Perry to space' or 'Why did Katy Perry sing What a Wonderful World in space, but instead something that has been pondered for years. Essentially, carbon-rich asteroids are abundant in space, with an asteroid stuffed to the brim with carbon being an incredibly common find. On Earth, however, when you do come across meteorites, less than five per cent are carbon-rich. You may be wondering, what does this have to do with life on Earth, and why do we care? Well, the reason is that carbon-rich asteroids contain water and organic molecules, both of which are key to the creation of life. Therefore, in order to take a massive step towards better understanding how the creation of life occurred, they first need to answer why carbon-rich asteroids are so rare on Earth compared to in space. Scientists have spent years trying to figure this out and have now got an answer. A peer-reviewed study, published by Nature Astronomy, featured international researchers who investigated the phenomena. This included scientists from Curtin University's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy (ICRAR), the Paris Observatory, and many more. The study analysed over 8,000 meteoroids and impacts to discover that the Earth and the Sun both operate as 'giant filters'. Earth and the sun, therefore, destroy carbon-rich meteoroids before they reach the ground due to their fragile nature. Dr Hadrien Devillepoix, a co-author on the research, said: 'We've long suspected weak, carbonaceous material doesn't survive atmospheric entry. 'What this research shows is many of these meteoroids don't even make it that far: they break apart from being heated repeatedly as they pass close to the Sun. 'The ones that do survive getting cooked in space are more likely to also make it through Earth's atmosphere.' Dr Patrick Shober, of the Paris Observatory, said: 'Carbon-rich meteorites are some of the most chemically primitive materials we can study — they contain water, organic molecules and even amino acids. 'However, we have so few of them in our meteorite collections that we risk having an incomplete picture of what's actually out there in space and how the building blocks of life arrived on Earth. 'Understanding what gets filtered out and why is key to reconstructing our solar system's history and the conditions that made life possible.' He finally added: 'This finding could influence future asteroid missions, impact hazard assessments and even theories on how Earth got its water and organic compounds to allow life to begin.'
