4.6 Billion Year old Meteorite found in the Sahara Desert older than Earth Itself!
The researchers, who published their findings in the journal PNAS on March 16, 2021, believe the fragment was probably part of the crust of an ancient protoplanet — a large, rocky body in the process of developing into a planet. They speculate that the baby planet got destroyed, or was devoured, by a bigger planet during our solar system's formation. "This meteorite is the oldest magmatic rock analyzed to date and sheds light on the formation of the primordial crusts that covered the oldest protoplanets," Barrat and his team reported. Since no known asteroid resembles EC 002, the researchers suspect that no other remnants are left from these early times. They either fused to form other planets or were destroyed. “When you go close to the beginning of the solar system, it’s more and more complicated to get samples,” says Barrat. “We probably will not find another sample older than this one.