Meteorite containing material billions of years old from the solar system is discovered in Antarctica

Scientists have discovered an extremely rare meteorite in Antarctica that contains some of the oldest material in the solar system.

"When we saw it, just in the middle of the blue ice, we were all very excited," researcher Maria Valdes told the Chicago Tribune.

The meteorite, which weighs about 8 kg, was discovered on January 5 by an international team at the end of an 11-day expedition.

The space rock, which contains material from billions of years ago, is one of the largest meteorites ever found on the continent and likely originated in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

"To put the size of the meteorite into perspective, of the 45,000 meteorites found in Antarctica over the past century, only 100 are this size or larger," the release said.

The international team of researchers on the icy continent spent two weeks combing the ice fields for meteorites when they found the space rock.

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