Antarctica’s meteorite mystery

Meteorites are dark coloured lumps of rock that fall from space to earth. They can be very small but on a continent covered in snow and ice, it’s easy to see them. So you might think that makes Antarctica an ideal place for scientists looking for meteorites to help explain the origins of our solar system. And certainly a lot of meteorite hunting goes on.

But now researchers are beginning to wonder exactly how many meteorites fall on to Antarctica each year. Is it more or less than on other parts of the Earth?

The puzzle has come about because it seems some meteorites hit the surface then melt down into the ice before slowly ‘floating’ up to the surface again some time later.

This article from Science News explains the mystery: