 Scientists have unpicked the secrets of the meteor ( PA) Impacts like the meteor's, which was 11 per cent water and two per cent carbon, helped bring water to Earth which later formed our oceans, leading to us develop as we have. Dr Luke Daly, a lecturer in planetary geoscience at the University of Glasgow and author of the paper said: "One of the biggest questions asked of the scientific community is how did we get here? "This analysis on the Winchcombe meteorite gives insight into how the Earth came to have water - the source of so much life. "Researchers will continue to work on this specimen for years to come, unlocking more secrets into the origins of our solar system." The Winchcombe meteorite belongs to a rare class of rocks known as carbonaceous chondrites. These represent only about three per){kind=link}
The Winchcombe meteor crashed down onto a driveway in the village but holds a vital clue to how life was kickstarted on planet Earth and contains seeds of the solar system formed over four billion years ago
A meteorite that crashed down onto a UK driveway holds the key to how life formed on planet Earth, according to scientists.
The space rock smashed into a driveway in the Winchcombe area of Gloucestershire in the evening of February 28 last year.
The 4.6billion-year-old meteor entered the planet’s atmosphere as a burning fireball, after originating in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
But since then, scientists retrieved the rock and have been scouring over it, and now believe the makeup of the meteor explains some of the vital aspects of how life emerged on this planet.