Where did the Gibeon meteorite originally come from?
Believed to be remnants of a long-vanished planet that was destroyed during the early years of the solar system, the asteroid destined to become the Gibeon meteorite was formed over four billion years ago, just as a rocky surface was starting to take shape on a young planet Earth. For hundreds of millions of years this asteroid quietly orbited the sun in an asteroid belt deep in space, occasionally bumping into other planetary fragments until the fateful impact that sent it speeding on a collision course with Earth. How big was the Gibeon meteorite? How fast was it going? It is estimated that the Gibeon meteorite measured about 13 feet by 13 feet by 5 feet thick and weighed at least 26 tons when it plunged to Earth; it may have been traveling at speeds of over 64,000 miles per hour. The meteorite struck the top of the Earth’s atmosphere at a fairly low angle, almost like a rock skipping across the water, before breaking apart into countless small shrapnel-like fragments. This is likely
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