There are times when our readers just blow me away.
This week I received an email from Murchison, to tell me that there is new information regarding their meteorite – and I’m welcome to the story (in case I’m not feeling well).
Truthfully, I feel reasonably well, but am trying to avoid the very cold outside air, for a couple of weeks.
I was writing something I wasn’t particularly happy with, and so I said “Yes please” to Kay Ball’s story.
The Meteorite landed 57 years ago next month (September 28, 1969) and is still assisting in advancing science.
Here’s the story. It’s mind-boggling.
Hitting the scientific jackpot with help from Murchison’s Meterorite
No wonder Murchison meteorite is called “a treasure trove for science” as this rare and ancient meteorite keeps supplying the scientific world with additional information about our universe.
An article in Sky & Telescope magazine (April 2026) reports how material from Murchison meteorite assisted in identifying previously unknown organic molecules found on Mars, similar to amino acids found in the human body, said to be the building blocks of life.
Exploring the surface of the planet Mars since 2012, is United States’s NASA’s robotic vehicle about the size of a small SUV, named Curiosity.
This rover moves across the landscape on six wheels, taking samples that can be examined by the on-board laboratory equipment.
Drilling in 2020, Curiosity collected a sample of organic compounds, more complex than any found previously, that had been trapped in clay-like terrain for billions of years.
Analysis on board Curiosity suggested 28 different compounds.
Scientists didn’t have a Mars sample in a laboratory on earth that could confirm and further understand these findings, but ground-up samples from Murchison meteorite provided what was needed.
Murchison meteorite is described as a carbonaceous chondrite, a stony meteorite compiled of organic-rich primitive material, present when the solar-system was forming.
These experiments in laboratories on earth have taken years, and now the findings have been published, revealing that the same compounds have been positively identified in Murchison meteorite samples as those in the Mars sample collected by Curiosity.
This raises the question; where did they come from? Could they have been created on Mars, or could these compounds have been deposited there by a meteorite?
One thing is certain; the understanding of Mars has changed with crucial help from Murchison meteorite, as the complex organic compounds identified show that ingredients to support microbial life have been found on Mars.
– Kay Ball
Murchison & District Historical Society Inc.
Last week – Generation Z
Yes. it is a bit frightening. But if we know the cause, we have the solution.
In fact, last week it was suggested, in discussions about NAPLAN, that in future it be a pen and paper exam.
The students would probably present the largest block to success. “Pen and whaaaat?”
WhatsApp boom
I’ve never seen anything grow like WhatsApp – more than 70 per cent of the people on my contact list are now using it.
I’m wondering if you guys equate, in any way at all, with the wider population. Probably not.
With love and thanks to Kay Ball, I close begging, that you do, as I do not.
Take care of your self first, and may it be easy, my friends.
Marnie
Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au
Phone: Text or call 0409 317187
6°C