Interesting article about the discovery of two new minerals from a big meteorite that landed in Somalia (but if the Daily Mail caption is correct, it was closer to Italy).
Here's the verbatim caption from the article on a picture that shows the meteorite.
"The 14-ton meteorite (pictured) crashed into Semolina in 2020. It is the ninth largest ever found on Earth"
The following is more scientifically-minded, from the University of Alberta.
New minerals discovered in massive meteorite may reveal clues to asteroid formation
"The two newly discovered minerals have been named elaliite and elkinstantonite. The first receives its name from the meteorite itself, dubbed the “El Ali” meteorite because it was found in near the town of El Ali, in the Hiiraan region of Somalia. Herd named the second mineral after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and principal investigator of NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission."
I was mildly surprised that I had not heard of this meteorite in Somalia before. It turns out it wasn't a recent impact, but was identified as a meteorite in 2020. A lot was happening in 2020, so I missed this piece of information. (I'm not a regular reader of The Meteoritical Bulletin.)
This is the official description of the El Ali meteorite. Enjoy.
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