Diyodar Meteorite | UPSC Current Affairs

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Context

Researchers have confirmed that a meteorite named as Diyodar Meteorite that had crashed in two villages of Gujarat is a rare aubrite that originated from an extremely reduced differentiated parent body in our solar system.

What did Scientists find?

Researchers used reflectance spectroscopy to analyse the chunks of the meteor and found that it contained magnesium-rich pyroxene.
The team polished a few small chips (0.5–1.5 cm) from the larger fragment of the Diyodar meteorite to conduct chemical analysis.
The analysis revealed that the meteorite is a rare, unique specimen of aubrite, which is the rare achondrite group of meteorites.

Aubrites

Aubrites are a group of meteorites named for Aubres, a small a chondrite meteorite that fell near Nyons, France, in 1836. They are primarily composed of the orthopyroxene enstatite and are often called enstatite achondrites. Their igneous origin separates them from primitive enstatite achondrites and means they originated in an asteroid.
Aubrites “are coarse-grained igneous rocks that formed”in oxygen-poor conditions, and thus “contain a variety of exotic minerals that are not found on Earth”. For example, the mineral heideite was first described in the Basti meteorite.
Aubrites are typically light-colored with a brownish fusion crust. Most aubrites are heavily brecciated; they are often said to look "lunar" in origin.
Aubrites are primarily composed of large white crystals of the Fe-poor, Mg-rich orthopyroxene, or enstatite, with minor phases of olivine, nickel-iron metal, and troilite, indicating a magmatic formation under extremely reducing conditions.
Aubrites contain sulfides of calcium, chromium, manganese, titanium, and sodium—all normal lithophile elements—and silicon-bearing FeNi metal. They share a similar highly reduced nature, unusual mineralogy, and oxygen-isotopic composition with enstatite chondrites.