Rocks on the ice
By Ron Cowen
Tramping through the woods on a dark, frigid morning in the Yukon last Jan. 18, geologist Charles F. Roots saw something brilliant flashing overhead: a flickering yellow, green, and white fireball. Then, he heard a crashing sound. Others, as far away as British Columbia and Alaska, noted a series of sonic booms, and several smelled burning sulfur. Minutes later, a long smoky trail appeared, illuminated by the rising sun. Another visitor from space had passed through Earth’s atmosphere.
In several respects, this rock—fragments of which a resident of the southern Yukon Territory recovered just a few days later—represents a rare find. The meteorite belongs to a class known as carbonaceous chondrites, which make up only 2 percent of the rocks that fall to Earth and rank among the most primitive bodies in the solar system.