Scientists Are Searching For An Extraterrestrial Object That Crashed Into The Ocean – And They May Have Found Something

On March 7 , 2018 , a meteoroid the size of it of a golf cart streaked across the skies of Washington state and crashed into the ocean . Researchers have since been looking for it in the Pacific Ocean – and they say they ’ve found something .

Thesearch beganon Sunday , July 1 , when the ship ring theNautilusheaded off the coast of Washington with a team of scientist on board . Using echo sounder , they attempted to find piece of music of this meteorite that had fall to the seafloor about 100 measure ( 330 pes ) deep .

It ’s forecast that as much as 2 tons of the meteorite may have survived the impact , noted theSeattle Times , with the rock retrieve to have landed about 25 kilometre ( 16 naut mi ) off the coast .

Then on Monday , July 2 , two distant submarines calledHerculesandArguswere send on a seven - hr tripper to the seafloor , in the area where the meteorite was thought to have attain the sea . They collected some sample using a suction hose , magnetic home base , and scoop up that calculate like the jackpot .

In anupdateposted on their website , the Nautilus squad said that NASA Cosmic Dust Curator Dr Marc Fries conducted a optic analysis of the samples . And his finding indicate they “ let in two small shard of optical fusion Earth’s crust – meteorite exterior that melted and course like glaze on pottery as it entered the air . ”

What ’s not known at the moment , however , is whether these pieces are from the March meteorite , or another one . So they ’re planning to carry on more tests over the coming calendar week to see if that ’s the example , and study the sample further to see if there are any more pieces .

The ground for doing this is to make out what sort of meteorite might hit out planet in the future tense . No meteorite has ever been recollect from the ocean before , with this rock and roll being unusual in that it did n’t erupt aside as it traveled through the standard atmosphere .

“ This one is special , ” Dr Fries toldMashable . “ This one is tougher than your typical meteor . ”

Had this meteorite break loose over nearby Seattle , it in all probability would have dash windows in a manner similar to the2013 Chelyabinsk meteorin Russia . Thankfully it did n’t , and it ’s provided scientists with a rather amazing chance to snag some pieces of it .