"The story of the Winchcombe meteorite – what can we learn from studying space rocks?"

Summary - In 2021, for the first time in 30 years, a meteorite fell in the UK and was recovered by scientists. We studied this space rock and learn more about the early solar system.
The Winchcombe meteorite is one of only five carbonaceous chondrites with a known pre-atmospheric orbit. The pristine nature of the sample combined with its distant origin make this meteorite the ideal candidate for investigating the geological history of water-bearing asteroids – some of the earliest planetary “building blocks”.

In this talk I will provide an up-to-date overview of the Winchcombe meteorite and what we’ve learnt so far, exploring its incredible survival through the atmosphere, its origin in the outer asteroid belt, its composition, and the geology of its parent asteroid.

BIO - Dr Martin D. Suttle is a Lecturer in Planetary Science at the Open University, within the School of Physical Sciences. He holds a PhD in Planetary Science from Imperial College London and previously worked as a research associate at the University of Pisa. Martin’s work specialises in the microanalysis of extraterrestrial materials (meteorites and micrometeorites). He focuses on water-rock interaction on asteroids and comets with the aim of understanding the role of water in the early solar system.