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Murchison meteorite
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Murchison meteorite

astronomy
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Written by
Harry Y. McSween
Professor of Geology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Author of Meteorites and Their Parent Planets and Fanfare for Earth: The Origin of Our Planet and Life.
Harry Y. McSween
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Article History

Murchison meteorite, meteorite that fell as a shower of stones (see meteorite shower) in Victoria, Austl., in 1969. More than 100 kg (220 pounds) of the meteorite were collected and distributed to museums all over the world.

The Murchison meteorite is classified as a carbonaceous chondrite. It was pervasively altered by water, probably when it was part of its parent asteroid, and it consists mostly of hydrated clay minerals. Because of the availability of samples and its freedom from contamination with terrestrial material, the meteorite has been widely studied for the organic matter that it contains. Amino acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, kerogens, and other organic compounds have been detected and analyzed. The molecular structures of these organic compounds preclude their origin in biological life on Earth. Their unusual hydrogen isotopic compositions suggest that the compounds originally formed in interstellar space, although they have been modified in the early solar nebula and in asteroids.

Harry Y. McSween