Pieces of a meteorite that lit up the Midwestern sky last April now live at Chicago’s Field Museum.
Scientists have named the meteorite Mifflin. They’ve analyzed its makeup, and found it probably came from an asteroid collision nearly half-a-billion years ago.
Field Museum curator Philipp Heck says that one ancient collision is still the most common source of meteorites on earth. So Mifflin may be high-profile, but not that unusual.
HECK: It was a spectacular fall, many people witnessed that fall, but it’s not a meteorite from Mars, not a meteorite from the Moon. It’s nothing exotic. It’s just that it happened at a time and at a place where a lot of people could see it.
The Field Museum acquired four fragments of the meteorite, and is borrowing two more. Mifflin caused a massive fireball in the sky on April 14, visible from Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri.
Originally reported by Chicago Public Radio. Read the original article here.
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