The minerals were discovered from a 70 gram slice of the 15.2 tonne ‘El Ali’ meteorite which was known to locals for five to seven generations but was only officially discovered two years ago. Researchers from the University of Alberta analyzed the slice to find two minerals — one named ellalite after the meteorite and the other named elkinstonite by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of the Interplanetary Initiative at the University of Arizona and principal investigator of the Psyche mission. of NASA. There is also the potential for a third recently discovered mineral, the University of Alberta said in a news release, and more are likely to be found. University of Alberta professor and curator of the Meteorite Collection Chris Heard helped with the identification, along with Andrew Lowcock, head of the university’s Electron Microprobe Laboratory. “The very first day he did some analysis, he said, ‘You’ve got at least two new minerals in there,’” Hurd said in a news release. “That was amazing. Most of the time it takes a lot more work than that to say there’s a new mineral.” And this is all a happy accident. Heard said in a presentation of the findings at the Space Exploration Symposium last week that they “happened to stumble” on the new minerals. “We didn’t look for new minerals, we just found them,” he said. This easy identification was possible because of their artificial versions that matched the compositions. Now, research into these minerals will continue – and with the hope that their discovery could spark new uses in the scientific and everyday world. “That’s my expertise — how you tease out the geological processes and the geological history of the asteroid that this rock was once part of,” Hurd said. “I never thought I’d be involved in describing brand new minerals just because of working on a meteorite.”
However, work on the meteorite can only be limited to the sample they obtained. Heard said the rest of the meteorite may have been taken to China to be sold, and it’s unclear whether researchers will be able to obtain more samples. More Lee Cohen Lee Cohen is a social media producer and emerging reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues.