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Strangely strong interstellar meteorites may come from supernovae

The two interstellar meteorites identified so far seem to be significantly stronger than local meteorites, which may mean they formed in supernovae

By Leah Crane

2 January 2023

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Meteorites that come from outside our solar system could be formed in supernovae

Shutterstock/Marko Aliaksandr

Interstellar meteorites may be even stranger than we thought. They seem to be stronger than meteorites produced in our own solar system, which hints that they could have formed in a supernova or some other extreme cosmic event.

These interloping rocks are swift – any meteorite travelling at a high speed compared to the sun may come from beyond our solar system, and its origin can be confirmed by calculating the direction it came from.

The first interstellar meteorite to be discovered struck Earth off…

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