Discovered on Earth a fragment of a planet that was never born.
It was found in the desert of Algeria and is slightly older than Earth, about 4.6 billion years old.
The meteorite, named Erg Chech 002, is described in the journal of the American National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by researchers coordinated by the geochemist Jean-Alix Barrat, of the French University of Western Brittany and the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS). .
The rock fragment, discovered in May 2020 and part of a series of rocks weighing a total of 32 kilograms, is of volcanic origin and, according to the authors of the study, was once part of the crust of a protoplanet dating back to the origins of the Solar System. , never developed in a world like Earth.
For experts, this fragment of a planet that was never born "is the oldest magmatic rock analyzed so far and sheds light on the formation of the crusts that covered the oldest protoplanets".
For the authors of the research, therefore, it represents "a rare opportunity to study the early stages of planetary formation, and to learn more about the appearance of the Solar System at its dawn".